In keeping with one of the basic principles of the Comprehensive Strategy, OJJDP also supported several programs that protect the public from the most serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders by reducing opportunities for these young offenders to commit crimes and by addressing the treatment needs these offenders present. In addition to programs addressing the critical issue of gangs, discussed in chapter 1, OJJDP continued to support juvenile gun violence reduction projects in communities initially funded in FY 1997 to help them increase the effectiveness of existing gun violence reduction strategies. These communities—Baton Rouge, LA; Oakland, CA; and Syracuse, NY—are enhancing and coordinating prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies and strengthening links among community residents, law enforcement, and the juvenile justice system. OJJDP also continued to fund a national evaluation of this gun violence project through a grant to COSMOS Corporation of Bethesda, MD. COSMOS is documenting the process of community mobilization, planning, and collaboration needed to develop the comprehensive, collaborative approach to reducing juvenile gun violence. During FY 1998, COSMOS developed data collection protocols, conducted a process evaluation, and continued to provide onsite technical assistance to the sites.
OJJDP also continued to support the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, a community-based, long-term effort to reduce violence. The project, currently in seven neighborhoods, is designed to expand throughout the city. Objectives include reducing homicides, physical injuries, disabilities, and emotional harm from assaults, domestic abuse, sexual abuse and rape, and child abuse and neglect. A partnership among the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Illinois Council for the Prevention of Violence, the University of Illinois, and Chicago communities, the project began in 1995 with joint funding from OJJDP and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The project provides technical assistance to a variety of community-based and citywide organizations involved in violence prevention planning. It is being implemented by the University of Illinois, School of Public Health, in Chicago.
The Child Development-Community Oriented Policing (CD-CP) program is an innovative partnership between the New Haven (CT) Department of Police Services and the Child Study Center at the Yale University School of Medicine to address the psychological burdens that witnessing violence imposes on children, families, and the broader community. OJJDP initially provided support in 1993 to document Yale-New Haven's child-centered, community oriented policing model. Components of the model include training for police officers, consultation, and the teaming of mental health clinicians with law enforcement in providing onsite intervention for children and families who witness violence. OJJDP, with first-year support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, funded a 3-year replication of the model in Buffalo, NY; Charlotte, NC; Nashville, TN; and Portland, OR. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime and Violence Against Women Office joined OJJDP in funding an expansion of CD-CP in FY 1998. This expansion moved the project into school-based activities and the area of domestic violence.
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| OJJDP Annual Report 1998 | October 1999 | |