In autumn 2007, the state of New Jersey initiated the Municipal Crime Prevention Initiative in response to rising concerns about violent crime and its impact on the economic vitality of cities and towns. The Initiative encompasses plans for law enforcement, crime prevention, and prisoner reentry and is a multipronged comprehensive approach to addressing statewide issues of crime, gang membership, and recidivism.
Preventing juvenile delinquency is a major component of the overall public safety plan. The Municipal Crime Prevention Initiative recognizes that delinquency prevention requires multilevel collaboration with government, from the top down and the bottom up. The Municipal Crime Prevention Initiative promotes community empowerment through the development of municipal planning bodies and the solutions-oriented use of data to address local issues of crime and delinquency.
Project Details
The New Jersey cities of Asbury Park, Camden, Newark, Trenton, and Vineland have established citywide Youth Prevention Policy Boards to address juvenile delinquency. The Youth Prevention Policy Board seeks to fully understand risk and protective factors in each of the cities, the resources within each city, and how these resources can be better coordinated to fit into the broad safety net of prevention for children and families.
The IRCT provides oversight, analytic support, and guidance to two local planning agencies—Janus Solutions and the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs (Rutgers University, Camden)—that will provide direct support and guidance to the Youth Prevention Policy Boards. Janus Solutions, a public policy consulting firm, works directly with the Newark and Asbury Park Youth Prevention Policy Board, and the Rand Institute works with the Camden, Trenton, and Vineland Youth Prevention Policy Boards.
Current Work
The Youth Prevention Policy Boards have been meeting in each of the five selected cities since July 2009. During this time the IRCT has been responsible for overseeing the work of the Rand Institute and Janus Solutions as they have staffed and directed citywide prevention planning organizations in Asbury Park, Camden, Newark, Trenton, and Vineland. In each of the municipalities, the Youth Prevention Policy Board has organized a cadre of committed leaders from the fields of government, law enforcement, and social services, as well as members of the youth community. Each of the municipal planning entities has created and implemented an innovative and comprehensive prevention system to address youth delinquency. These prevention systems attempt to build upon the distinct strengths of each municipality while properly addressing existing gaps in service. Each Youth Prevention Policy Board has the following objectives:
Establish a group of community leaders in each municipality to form a local prevention planning system that will evaluate the community via existing risk and protective factors and will address gaps in these areas as they relate to youth delinquency.
Identify areas of concern related to youth delinquency and propose evidence-based and solution-oriented strategies.
Establish a system for the implementation of developed strategies to address youth delinquency.
Develop a monitoring system to determine the effectiveness of the implemented strategies.
IRCT’s Future Role in the Prevention Initiative
To ensure that the planning board in each city is making progress toward establishing an effective youth delinquency prevention system, IRCT will produce an outcomes-based assessment.
Project Team
Michael Simmons
Kimaada Sills
Katie Brennan
Press Coverage
For press coverage on the Municipal Crime Prevention Initiative please visit the following websites:
