ABSTRACT
In recent years, the demand for the participation of academic researchers in criminal justice working groups has increased as practitioners have recognized the importance of strategic information products in developing effective crime prevention interventions. Academics can be very helpful to criminal justice practitioners by conducting research on urban crime problems to better focus limited enforcement, intervention, and prevention resources on high-risk offenders, victims, and places. Strategic crime prevention initiatives based on research insights have been associated with a 60 percent reduction in youth homicide in Boston (Braga et al., 2001) and a 40 percent reduction in total homicide in Indianapolis (McGarrell and Chermak, 2003b). These success stories have made academic researchers an important part of new crime prevention initiatives. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice-sponsored Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative provides each of the 93 U.S. Attorneys’ Districts1 in the United States with funds to hire academic research partners to help understand and address serious gun violence problems in local jurisdictions.
