Localized Homicide Patterns and Prevention Strategies: A Comparison of Five Project Safe Neighborhood Sites

Abstract

Research has produced a wealth of knowledge on the victims, offenders, and circumstances of homicide incidents. This research, however, is seldom tied to community-based homicide prevention initiatives. This article compares patterns of homicide across five Project Safe Neighborhood sites and presents an example of how homicide characteristics in local communities can be tied to specific local prevention strategies. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of how homicide research can provide the first step in developing community-based, data-driven violence prevention programs.

Keywords:

• homicide
• violence
• prevention
• California
• Project Safe Neighborhoods

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by grant numbers 2003-GP-CX-0001 and 2003-GP-CX-0178, awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Opinions or points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Notes

1. The reader may note that San Diego and both the Los Angeles sites have a statistically significant higher proportion of homicides involving strangers than Oakland, which comprised 14%, but this proportion was not statistically more than Hayward, which comprised 7%. This may be due to lack of statistical power given the small frequency of these homicides in Hayward.

2. Thirty-six percent of cases in Hayward involved a gun that was not identified in homicide files. If these unidentified guns were in fact handguns it is possible that the percentage of cases in Hayward involving handguns could be as high at 56%.

3. Although we attempted to compare homicide motivation, we could not do so because these data were missing in approximately 80% of the cases in Hayward and 49% of the cases in Los Angeles (both target areas). In contrast, motivations were unknown in approximately 22% of cases in Oakland and 12% in San Diego. Therefore, it is unclear from these data if drug, gang, and other related motivations for killings are actually more prevalent in one location or another or if differences are the simple artifact of missing data.

4. ANOVA results indicated no differences between PSN sites on the day of the week and month in which homicides occurred.