In 2018, the Urban Institute received funding from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to develop a guide for using research-based
practice to reduce youth gun and gang/group violence. It is intended to inform local government, law
enforcement, and community-violence-intervention stakeholders as they implement new strategies
and refine existing ones to reduce youth gang/group and gun violence in their communities. The primary
audience for the guide—and for this scan of interventions—is the leadership of local government bodies
(e.g., mayors, county executives, county commissioners, youth violence reduction task forces) because
their decisions greatly influence whether violence reduction practices are successfully implemented
and sustained. We frame the findings in this report with this audience in mind, although we hope and
expect they will be of broader use and interest to any entity involved in designing and implementing
violence reduction efforts—including community-based organizations serving youth and young adults—
as well as community stakeholders, policymakers, professionals, and researchers working on youth
group and gun violence.
