This is an archive of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP's) electronic newsletter OJJDP News @ a Glance. The information in this archived resource may be outdated and links may no longer function. Visit our website at https://www.ojjdp.gov for current information.
March | April 2016

Justice Department Adds Three New Sites to Violence Reduction Network
Violence Reduction Network logo

On March 1, 2016, Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Karol V. Mason announced that Milwaukee, WI, New Orleans, LA, and St. Louis, MO, and will join the 10 existing VRN sites. The ten other sites are Camden, NJ, Chicago, IL, Compton, CA, Detroit, MI, Flint, MI, Little Rock, AR, Newark, NJ, Oakland/Richmond, CA, West Memphis, AR, and Wilmington, DE.

The Violence Reduction Network, established in 2014 and administered by OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), enhances and improves the capacity of local jurisdictions to address violent crime and increase public safety. VRN builds on efforts already underway, leverages lessons learned, and delivers a broad spectrum of resources, including tailored training and technical assistance, communities of practice, peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and federal law enforcement assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The announcement was made at the third annual Violence Reduction Summit, a 2-day meeting of U.S. Attorneys, police chiefs, sheriffs, mayors, local leaders from the VRN sites, and Department of Justice (DOJ) representatives. Held at the Office of Justice Programs in Washington, DC, the summit featured working sessions to analyze the cities’ violence reduction challenges, discuss the variety of DOJ resources available to address the issues, and develop site plans.

According to Deputy Attorney General Yates, domestic violence homicides in Detroit have dropped 35 percent since city officials began tackling this problem as part of their VRN strategy. In addition, the homicide clearance rate—a measure of crimes solved by police—has increased from 10 percent to more than 50 percent as a result of VRN efforts in Wilmington.

“It has been only a year-and-a-half since we launched the first Violence Reduction Network,” said Yates. “In just that short period of time, the partnerships we have built through VRN have helped to reduce crime rates. These results could only have happened through the kind of creative collaboration promoted through the VRN.”

Cynthia Pappas, Senior Policy Advisor at OJJDP, joined other officials from the DOJ program offices—BJA, the Community Oriented Policing Services Office, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office on Violence Against Women—to provide an overview of how DOJ programs, publications, and training and technical assistance can support VRN sites as they engage in violence reduction efforts.

Ms. Pappas discussed the specific opportunities and resources available through OJJDP to help these communities build their capacity to effectively address youth violence, including an award to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, in partnership with the Yale Childhood Violent Trauma Center, to increase the understanding of children exposed to violence among law enforcement leaders and officers. Ms. Pappas also highlighted the work of the BJA- and OJJDP-sponsored National Gang Center and resources available through OJJDP's one-stop technical assistance site, TTA360.

Resources:

To learn more about the Violence Reduction Network, visit the initiative’s website.

To read a press release about the announcement of the three new VRN sites, visit DOJ’s website.

For more information about OJJDP’s youth violence prevention and anti-gang initiatives, visit the Office’s website.