Partnership with Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and University of Chicago
(New York, NY)— Recognizing John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s commitment to critical research and public safety, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) awarded John Jay College’s Research and Evaluation Center (JohnJayREC) $2.6 million to study the effectiveness of the City’s gun violence interruption programming from 2022 to 2026.
The award is part of a $20.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury to MOCJ to support the ongoing work of Cure Violence community programs dedicated to breaking the cycles of gun violence among young people. With JohnJayREC’s analysis and the work of NORC at the University of Chicago, MOCJ will be able to calculate the savings violence reduction programs like Cure Violence and others have on federal programs like Medicaid.
“We are proud that John Jay is partnering with the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice to support research on New York City’s Cure Violence Program. This research will provide crucial information about the role that community-based violence intervention programs can play in addressing violence,” said John Jay College of Criminal Justice President Karol V. Mason. “Ultimately, communities around the country will benefit from the Research and Evaluation Center’s research on what works to reduce violence and build safer, healthier, and more equitable communities.”
The funds are awarded under the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA), a federal reinvestment program created in 2018 that provides state and local governments an opportunity to be awarded for “pay-for-results” projects that can show direct and tested improvements in specific social service categories. The City competed with 35 other government applicants and is the second ever recipient of an award from this program.
“This is an opportunity to show that preventing gun violence with community organizations makes good economic sense,” said Director of the John Jay Research and Evaluation Center Dr. Jeffrey Butts. “Our hope is that the research proves the money saved from reduced shootings exceeds the costs of the prevention programs themselves.”
"Since I joined MOCJ in 2015, I worked every day to solve public safety problems. My approach was to bring about change by always implementing evidence driven strategies. John Jay College and CUNY have been invaluable partners in driving that change through research,” said Marcos Gonzalez Soler, former director of the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice.
MOCJ has been working with John Jay to assess CURE Violence strategies since 2014. Soler, who is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at John Jay College, was recently appointed Deputy Secretary for Public Safety in the Office of Governor.
According to research by JohnJayREC, crime incidents involving guns dropped 51 percent, and the number of people injured by gunfire declined 53 percent between 2006 and 2019. While it is not possible to attribute such changes to one or two factors alone, JohnJayREC was able to provide the data needed to prove that the City’s initiatives were effective in reducing gun violence; shoring up the premise that fewer gun injuries and hospitalizations create real economic savings and lead to safer, healthier communities.
About John Jay College of Criminal Justice:
An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York is a Hispanic Serving Institution and Minority Serving Institution offering a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. John Jay is home to faculty and research centers at the forefront of advancing criminal and social justice reform. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College engages the theme of justice and explores fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu and follow us on Twitter @JohnJayCollege.
About the John Jay Research and Evaluation Center
The John Jay Research and Evaluation Center (JohnJayREC) is an applied research organization and part of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. It provides members of the academic community with opportunities to respond to the research needs of justice practitioners in the city, New York State, and the nation. At any given time, the Center is working on several projects designed to discover, test, and improve programs and policies related to the justice system. Since 2010, the Center has managed $46 Million in grants and contracts and our work has taken us to California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee among other states as well as Belize, Chile, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. The Center operates with the supervision and support of John Jay College’s Office for the Advancement of Research (OAR). Follow on Twitter @JohnJayRec.
