Injustice Watch— City Watchdog: Juvenile Diversion Program has Failed to Meet Goals

“It makes me sad to see that some of the issues we identified ten years ago are still hindering the effectiveness of the place,” said Jeffrey Butts, a criminologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, who conducted the earlier evaluation. Continue reading Injustice Watch— City Watchdog: Juvenile Diversion Program has Failed to Meet Goals

CityLab — What We Fight About When We Fight About Parking

Sociologists and criminologists theorize as to why violence can erupt from such seemingly inconsequential concerns. Jeffrey Butts, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, says that the dynamics of parking provocations are sometimes similar to those of gang violence: Individuals who think their territory is threatened feel that they have to respond with violence to protect it. Continue reading CityLab — What We Fight About When We Fight About Parking

JJIE — With Plunging Crime Rate, New York Experts Dreaming Big

But while the numbers show New York City is shifting gears on criminal justice reform, much harder is to establish, the experts said, is whether new policies are causing the drop in crime or whether they are a consequence of it…. Crime numbers have been decreasing for a long time nationwide, and even worldwide, said Jeffrey Butts, a professor who leads the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He has researched the juvenile justice system since the late 1980s. Continue reading JJIE — With Plunging Crime Rate, New York Experts Dreaming Big

Nonprofit Quarterly—Community Nonprofits Reduce Gun Violence through Peer Networks

The John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center analyzed the New York City experience with the Cure Violence model in 2017, seven years after the strategy was adopted. It found reductions in gun injuries of 37–50 percent in the South Bronx and Brooklyn. The center also documented a 14 percent reduction in attitudes supporting violence, with no change in control populations. However, more research is needed. Continue reading Nonprofit Quarterly—Community Nonprofits Reduce Gun Violence through Peer Networks