A comprehensive retrospective and prospective evaluation of the City of San Jose's Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force.

OJJDP's Community-Based Violence Prevention (CBVP) Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation (FIRE) Program supports methodologically rigorous research and evaluation studies that inform policy and practice consistent with the Department of Justice's mission. OJJDP is funding field-initiated studies to inform what is understood about how communities can prevent and reduce violence involving youth. This program is authorized pursuant to the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2012, 42 USC 5631; Pub. L. 112-55, 125 Stat. 552, 617.

The City of San José, in partnership with Resource Development Associates (RDA) and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, will design and implement a retrospective and prospective evaluation of the Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force (MGPTF). Established in 1991, MGPTF is a national model of gang prevention and intervention and is recognized by OJJDP's National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention and by California Cities Gang Prevention Network. However, the MGPTF has never been subject to a rigorous comprehensive evaluation. This project will conduct a multi-method evaluation from 1991-2010, and of the current program. Both the retrospective and prospective evaluation components will include process, outcome, and impact analyses. The process analysis will identify the program's theory of change and assess fidelity. The outcome analysis will examine effects on participant's resiliency and developmental assets, education, and juvenile justice involvement. By matching program participants to client-level juvenile probation data, the prospective outcome analysis will use a paired sample analysis to compare participants' justice-system involvement prior to and subsequent to MGPTF participation. The impact analysis will use a quasi-experimental time series analysis in combination with a weighted displacement quotient (WDQ) to analyze the effects of the MGPTF on crime reduction and displacement.
CA/NCF