To address high-risk and violent offenders, follow these steps:
1. Establish a working group partnership (see “Partnerships for Prevention” under Organizational Strategies) consisting of crime analysts, probation, parole, prosecution, and social service providers to assist with the tasks below.
2. Identify high-risk repeat offenders with the help of crime analysis. Be targeted and specific; for example, if you are working on reducing an armed robbery problem in your area of responsibility, those with repeat misdemeanor offenses or low level disorders may not be appropriate to target.
3. Make contact with these individuals, either in-person or by notification, to communicate to them that the agency is partnering with probation, parole, and the state’s attorney to focus on violent crimes in the area. Discuss specific consequences they will face for future offending.
4. When possible, try to connect high-risk offenders with appropriate social services.
The above reflects a “pulling levers” approach, also known as a focused deterrence strategy. For more information on this approach and “Operation Ceasefire”, visit this resource.
In an effort to provide helpful suggestions in areas that have not yet been fully studied or evaluated, we have included ideas for responses and activities that may not yet be considered evidence-based or evidence-informed. Therefore, not all actions and strategies included within this App are evidence-based or evidence-informed.