Researchers at the UNM Institute for Social Research are members of a newly formed workgroup focused on helping to control gun violence in Bernalillo County.
The team received a $229,000 two-year grant from the National Institute of Justice to conduct research that the workgroup can use to develop problem solving and strategic interventions in response to the violence.
The group, aided by the United States Attorney's Office, includes local, state and federal criminal justice agencies and was convened under the National Institute of Justice's Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative.
Its research team is led by Dr. Paul Steele and Dr. Lisa Broidy, criminologists and faculty in the UNM Sociology Department, in collaboration with sociology graduate student Jerry Daday and undergraduate Teresa Schellhamer, a statistics major.
"Usually sociologists are only called in to do evaluation at the last minute," Broidy said. "It is very unusual for us to be involved and give input from the start. Our goal is to provide data that will help influence the direction interventions will take and to help monitor and fine tune those efforts."
Steele agreed.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"As criminologists, we have always wanted to get at the table from the beginning," he said. "This initiative has certainly given us the opportunity to do that."
During the past year, members of the research team have met with various agencies from the workgroup to collect data on violent crime incidents, offenders and victims. The agencies include the Albuquerque Police Department, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, the District Attorney's Office, the FBI, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Pre-Trial Services, State and Federal Probation and Parole, DEA and the Department of Public Safety.
"These data are vital to the efforts of the interagency workgroup as they collaborate to understand and target violent crime within the county," Broidy said.
The research team collected and analyzed data for crimes that occurred in Bernalillo County between 1996 and 2001.
Using these data the research team has been able to identify offender and victim characteristics, crime patterns and the geographic location of crime hotspots for serious crimes, such as homicide, aggravated assault, domestic violence and drug/narcotic incidents.
The community safety initiative was first deployed in five communities in 1998 to tackle various crimes. They were: New Haven, Ct.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Memphis, Tenn.; Indianapolis, In.; and Portland, Ore. In 2000, four additional cities, along with Albuquerque were funded.
They are: Rochester, N.Y.; Detroit, Mich.; Atlanta, Ga.; and St. Louis, Mo. Cities funded to participate in the first round saw significant reductions in crime within communities.
The institute is under the umbrella of the UNM Sociology Department. It operates entirely on contracts and grants from local, state and federal agencies and from private foundations.
In 2000, the institute had 35 active research projects funded with about $3 million from state and national sources.
Staff Report
