Research Team
Project Overview
Serious gun violence in Stockton, California, is concentrated among a small group of gang-involved individuals who are disconnected from services and opportunities. Over the past 25 years, Stockton has periodically implemented Operation Ceasefire as its primary gang violence reduction strategy. Stockton Ceasefire is a focused deterrence strategy that reflects the principles of the Group Violence Intervention (GVI).
The latest iteration, refined in 2018, adopts a “triple bottom line” approach targeting three goals: reducing gang-related homicides and shootings, lowering recidivism and incarceration, and improving police-community relations. Key innovations include enhanced communication with high-risk individuals that builds on procedural justice concepts, strategic enforcement rooted in improved intelligence collection and ongoing analysis, improved outreach and services coordinated through street outreach workers, and citywide accountability structures to ensure partnering agencies implement the program as designed. The California Partnership for Safe Communities (CPSC) supported Stockton in its violence prevention efforts for over a decade.
A rigorous quasi-experimental evaluation by the Crime and Justice Policy Lab assessed Stockton Ceasefire’s impact on violence, recidivism, and police-community relations. Using data from the Stockton Police Department and Office of Violence Prevention, the study found reduced shooting victimization and violent recidivism among treated gang members compared to untreated gang members. Spillover benefits were noted as the program also reduced the shooting victimization for socially connected gang members. Although Stockton experienced an increase in homicides over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase was not as steep as other comparable California cities. Qualitative analyses from interviews, focus groups, and observations revealed strategies for implementing focused deterrence effectively, including maintaining a strong network of partner agencies, establishing accountability structures and sustainability plans, and performing initial and continuous problem analysis.
