Systematic reviews:

Addressing the “Black Box” of focused deterrence: An Examination of the Mechanisms of Change in Chicago’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (2019), Rick Trinkner

The Effects of “Pulling Levers” Focused Deterrence Strategies on Crime. Campbell Systematic Reviews (2012), Anthony A. Braga & David L. Weisburd

Effectiveness of Street Gang Control Strategies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Evaluation Studies (2015), Jennifer Wong, Jason Gravel, Martin Bouchard, Carlo Morselli, & Karine Descormiers.

What Works in Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation (2016), David Weisburd, David P. Farrington, & Charlotte Gill

What Works in Reducing Community Violence: A Meta-Review and Field Study for the Norther Triangle (2016), Thomas Abt & Christopher Winship

Full list of evaluations:

Best, M (2009). Model Police Work. UNCG Research, 7, 8-15.

Braga, A. A., & Weisburd, D. L. (2015). Focused deterrence and the prevention of violent gun injuries: practice, theoretical principles, and scientific evidence. Annual Review of Public Health, 36, 55-68.

Braga, A. A., Apel, R., & Welsh, B. C. (2013). The Spillover Effects of Focused Deterrence on Gang Violence. Evaluation Review, 37(3-4), 314-342.

Braga, A. A., & Weisburd, D.L. (2012). Pulling Levers Focused Deterrence Strategies to Prevent Crime. No. 6 of Crime Prevention Research Review. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Braga, A.A., & Weisburd, D.L. (2011). The Effects of Focused-Deterrence Strategies on Crime: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Evidence (Campbell Collaboration). Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 

Braga, A. A., Hureau, D., & Winship, C. (2008). Losing Faith? Police, Black Churches, and the Resurgence of Youth Violence in Boston. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 6 (1) 141-172

Braga, A. A. (2008). Pulling Levers: Focused Deterrence Strategies and the Prevention of Gun Homicide.Journal of Criminal Justice, 36 (4) 332-343

Braga, A. A., Pierce, G. L., McDevitt J., Bond, B. J., & Cronin S. (2008). The Strategic Prevention of Gun Violence Among Gang-Involved Offenders. Justice Quarterly, 25, 132-162.

Braga, A. A., McDevitt, J., & Pierce, G. L. (2006). Understanding and Preventing Gang Violence: Problem Analysis and Response Development in Lowell, Massachusetts. Police Quarterly, 9 (1) 20-46

Braga, A A., & Winship, C. (2005, September). Creating an Effective Foundation to Prevent Youth Violence: Lessons Learned from Boston in the 1990s. Rappaport Institute Policy Brief PB-2005-5

Braga, A. A., & Kennedy, D.M. (2002, July). Reducing Gang Violence in Boston. In Responding to Gangs: Evaluation and Research. Eds. Reed, W.L. and Decker, S.H. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice

Braga, A A., Kennedy, D.M., Piehl, A.M., & Waring, E.J. (2001, September). Reducing Gun Violence: The Boston Gun Project’s Operation Ceasefire. National Institute of Justice Research Report 

Braga, A. A., Kennedy, D.M., Waring, E.J., & Piehl, A.M. (2001). Problem-Oriented Policing, Deterrence, and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of Boston’s Operation Ceasefire. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 38 (3) 195-226

Braga, A. A., Piehl, A.M., & Kennedy D.M. (1999). Youth Homicide in Boston: An Assessment of Supplementary Homicide Report Data. Homicide Studies, 3 (4) 277-299

Bullock, K., & Tilley, N. (2002). Shootings, Gangs, and Violent Incidents in Manchester: Developing a Crime Reduction Strategy. Crime Reduction Research Paper Series 13. London: Home Office

Bynum, T.S., & McCluskey, J.D. (2007, November). Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI): Detroit, Michigan. National Criminal Justice Reference Service 

Corsaro, N., & Engel, R. S. (2015). Most Challenging of Contexts: Assessing the Impact of Focused Deterrence on Serious Violence in New Orleans. Criminology & Public Policy, 14(3). DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12142.

Corsaro, N., Hunt, E.D., Kroovand Hipple, N., McGarrell, E. (2012). The Impact of Drug Market Pulling Levers Policing on Neighborhood Violence. Criminology & Public Policy. Vol. 11, Issue 2.

Corsaro, N., Brunson, R.K., McGarrell, E.F. (2009). Problem-Oriented Policing and Open-Air Drug Markets: Examining the Rockford Pulling Levers Deterrence Strategy. Crime & Delinquency

Corsaro, N., McGarrell, E.F. (2009). An Evaluation of the Nashville Drug Market Initiative (DMI) Pulling Levers Strategy. Drug Market Intervention Working Paper. East Lansing, MA: Michigan State University

Dalton, E. (2003, December). Lessons in Preventing Homicide. Project Safe Neighborhoods Report. School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University

Easterling, D., Harvey, L., Mac-Thompson, D., & Allen, M. (2002, July). Evaluation of SACSI in Winston-Salem: Engaging the Community in a Strategic Analysis of Youth Violence. National Criminal Justice Reference Service 

Engel, R.S., Corsaro, N., Skubak Tillyer, M. (2010, October). Evaluation of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV): . University of Cincinnati Policing Institute

Engel, R.S., Skubak Tillyer, M., & Corsaro, N. (2013) Reducing Gang Violence Using Focused Deterrence: Evaluating the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV). Justice Quarterly, 30:3, 403-439, DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2011.619559

Engel, R.S., Baker, G., Skubak Tillyer, M., Dunham, J.R., Hall, D., Ozer, M., Henson, B., Godsey, T. (2009).Implementation of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV): Year 2 Report. University of Cincinnati Policing Institute

Engel, R.S., Baker, G., Skubak Tillyer, M., Eck, J., & Dunham, J. (2008, April). Implementation of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV): Year 1 Report. University of Cincinnati Policing Institute

Fagan, J., Meares, T., Papachristos, A.V., & Wallace, D. (2008, November). Desistance and Legitimacy: Effect Heterogeneity in a Field Experiment with High-Risk Offenders. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, St. Louis, MO.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids (n.d). What Works with Gangs? A Research Brief for Community Leaders

Frabutt, J. M., Hefner, M. K., Harvey, L. K., Di Luca, K. L., & Shelton, T. L. (in press). Key Community Stakeholders in a Police-Community Partnership to Eliminate Street-Drug Markets: Roles, Engagement, and Assessment of the Strategy. Crime, Punishment, and the Law: An International Journal.

Frabutt, J. M., Hefner, M. K., Di Luca, K. L., Shelton, T. L., & Harvey, L.K. (2010).  A Street-Drug Elimination Initiative: The Law Enforcement Perspective. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 33 (3), 452-472.

Hartstone, E.C..& Richetelli, D.M. (2003, January). Final Assessment of the Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative in New Haven (CT) National Criminal Justice Reference Service

Hawken, A., Kleiman, M. (2009). Managing Drug-Involved Probatitioners with Swift and Certain Sanctions: Evaluating Hawaii’s HOPE. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Hipple, N.K., Corsaro, N., McGarrell, E. F (2010). The High Point Drug Market Initiative: A Process and Impact Assessment. East Lansing, MA: Michigan State University 

Hipple, N. K., McGarrell, E. F. et al (2009). Drug Market Intervention Implementation Guide and Lessons Learned. Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Kapsch, S.J., Louis, L. , & Oleson, K. (2003, June). The Dynamics of Deterrence: Youth Gun Violence in Portland (YLS/CMI) National Criminal Justice Reference Service.

Kennedy, D. M. (2024). “Gangs in Practice: Violence Prevention, Law Enforcement, and the Received Idea of the ‘Gang.’” In Pyrooz, David C., James A. Densley, and Joh Leverso, The Oxford Handbook of Gangs and Society. Oxford University Press

Kennedy, D. M.(2009, March). Drugs, Race and Common Ground: Reflections on the High Point Intervention.National Institute of Justice Journal, No. 262.

Kennedy, D. M. (2006). “Old Wine in New Bottles: Policing and the Lessons of Pulling Levers” In Police Innovation: Contrasting Perspectives. Eds.Weisburd, D. and Braga, A.A. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Kennedy, D. M. (2002). “A Tale of One City: Reflections on the Boston Gun Project” In Securing Our Children’s Future: New Approaches to Juvenile Justice and Youth Violence. Ed. Katzmann, G.S. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press 

Kennedy, D. M. (1999). Research for Problem Solving and the New Collaborations. In Viewing Crime and Justice from a Collaborative Perspective: Plenary Papers of the 1998 Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation 

Kennedy, D. M., & Braga A.A. (1998). Homicide in Minneapolis: Research for Problem Solving. Homicide Studies, 2 (3) 263-290

Kennedy, D. M. (1998, July). Pulling Levers: Getting Deterrence Right. National Institute of Justice Journal 

Kennedy, D. M. (1997). Pulling Levers: Chronic Offenders, High-Crime Settings, and a Theory of Prevention.Valparaiso University Law Review, 31 (2)

Kennedy, D. M., Braga, A.A., & Piehl, A.M. (1997). “The (Un)Known Universe: Mapping Gangs and Gang Violence in Boston.” In Crime Mapping and Crime Prevention, ed. David L. Weisburd and J. Thomas McEwen. New York: Criminal Justice Press

Kennedy, D. M., Piehl, A.M., & Braga, A.A. (1996). Youth Violence in Boston: Gun Markets, Serious Youth Offenders, and a Use-Reduction Strategy. Law and Contemporary Problems, 59 (1) 147-196

Kennedy, D. M, Wong, S.L., (2009). The High Point Drug Market Intervention Strategy. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services. 

Kennedy, D. M. (2008). Deterrence and Crime Prevention: Reconsidering the Prospect of Sanction. NY: Routledge

Klofas, J.M., Delaney C., & Smith, T. (2007, November). Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) in Rochester, NY National Criminal Justice Reference Service 

Mazerolle, L., Bennett, S., Davis, J., Sargeant, E., Manning, M. (2012).  Legitimacy in Policing. Campbell Systematic Reviews.

McDevitt, Jack., Braga, Anthony A., Cronin, Shea.  (February 2007). Project Safe Neighborhoods: Strategic Interventions:  Lowell, District of Massachusetts: Case Study 6. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

McGarrell, E. F., Corsaro, N., Brunson, R..K. (2010). The Drug Market Intervention Approach to Overt Drug Markets. VARSTVOSLOVJE, Journal of Criminal Justice and Security. Year 12 No. 4. pp. 397-407

McGarrell, E. (2005). Strategic Problem Solving and Project Safe Neighborhoods. PSN Working Paper. School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University 

McGarrell, E., & Chermak, S. (2003, October). Strategic Approaches to Reducing Firearms Violence: Final Report on the Indianapolis Violence Reduction Partnership. National Criminal Justice Reference Service 

McGarrell, E.F., Chermak, S., Wilson, J.M., & Corsaro, N. (2006). Reducing Homicide through a “Lever-Pulling” Strategy. Justice Quarterly, 23 (2) 214-231

Meares, T. (2009). The Legitimacy of Police Among Young African-American Men. Marquette Law Review, 92(4) 651-666

Meares, T., Papachristos, A.V., & Fagan, J. (2009, January). Homicide and Gun Violence in Chicago: Evaluation and Summary of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Program. Project Safe Neighborhoods Research Brief. 

National Institute of Justice. (2008, April). Paving the Way for Project Safe Neighborhoods: SACSI in 10 U.S. Cities. Research Report 

National Institute of Justice. (2006, June). Reducing Gun Violence: Community Problem Solving in Atlanta.

National Institute of Justice. (2005, February). Reducing Gun Violence: Operation Ceasefire in Los Angeles.

Papachristos, A. V., Braga, A. A., Hureau, D. M. (2011). Six Degrees of Violent Victimization: Social Networks and the Risk of Gunshot Injury. Manuscript submitted for publication. 

Papachristos, A. V., & Kirk, D. S. (2015). Changing the Street Dynamic: Evaluating Chicago’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy. Criminology & Public Policy, 14(3). DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12142.

Papachristos, A. V., Meares, T., & Fagan, J. (2007). Attention Felons: Evaluating Project Safe Neighborhoods in Chicago. University of Chicago Olin Law and Economics Paper No. 269 and Columbia University Law School Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series Paper No. 05-97

Piehl, A.M., Cooper, S.J., Braga, A.A., & Kennedy, D.M. (2003). Testing for Structural Breaks in the Evaluation of Programs. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 85 (3) 550-558

Piehl, A.M., Kennedy, D.M., Braga, A.A. (2000, Spring). Problem Solving and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of the Boston Gun Project. American Law and Economics Review Vol.2 No.1

Rosenfeld, R., Fornango, R., Baumer, E. (2005). Did Ceasefire, Compstat, and Exile Reduce Homicide? Criminology & Public Policy. Vol.4 (3)

Sierra-Arevalo, M., Yanick, C., Papachristos, A.V. (2016). Evaluating the Effect of Project Longevity on Group-Involved Shootings and Homicides in New Haven. Connecticut: Crime & Delinquency. DOI: 10.1177/0011128716635197

Sparrow, M.K., Moore, M.H., Kennedy, D.M. (1990). Beyond 911: A New Era for Policing. New York: Basic Books 

Steele, P. D., Broidy, L. (2007, November). The Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative in Albuquerque: Project Activities and Research Results National Criminal Justice Research Services 

Thacher, David. (2016). Channeling Police Discretion: The Hidden Potential of Focused Deterrence. Chicago: University of Chicago Legal Forum. 

Tita, G., Riley, K.J., Ridgeway, G., Grammich, C., Abrahamse, A.F. (2010). Reducing Gun Violence: Results From An Intervention In East Los Angeles. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

Wallace, W., Papachristos, A. V., Meares, T. L., & Fagan, J. (2015). Desistance and Legitimacy: The Impact of Offender Notification Meetings on Recidivism among High Risk Offenders. Justice Quarterly.

Wakeling, S.(2003, February). Ending Gang Homicide: Deterrence Can Work. Perspectives on Violent Prevention. California Attorney General’s Office/California Health and Human Services Agency.