Effects of Baltimore's “Safe Streets” program on gun violence

Background/Purpose Chicago's CeaseFire program uses street outreach workers to mentor high-risk youth, steer these youth to resources to reduce their risk, and mediate disputes that could escalate to gunfire. Community events and media deliver clear messages eschewing violence. An evaluation found program-related reductions in shootings and retaliatory homicides in 4 of 7 intervention neighborhoods studied. This study evaluates Baltimore's Safe Streets program, a replication of CeaseFire.

Methods Data on nonfatal shootings and homicides were collected from Baltimore Police Department for police posts in the city's top quartile for shootings. Negative binomial regression models with robust standard errors were used to control for drug arrests, weapon arrests, a new policing initiative, and calendar month.

Results Safe Streets was associated with statistically significant decreases in homicides and nonfatal shootings in two program areas and a significant increase in another program area. The two neighborhoods with significant reductions in gun violence had three times as many conflict mediations per month as the neighborhood where gun violence increased following the program.

Conclusions Baltimore's replication of CeaseFire was successful in reducing gun violence in two neighborhoods where outreach workers were mediating nearly three serious disputes per month.