FACT SHEET
PROJECT SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS:
AMERICA'S NETWORK AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE

Understanding The Problem:
Violent Crime Is At A 30-Year Low, But Gun Crime Remains A Challenge

Violent Crime Rate Is at a 30-Year Low. The violent crime rate is now at its lowest level since 1973, when the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics started collecting criminal victimization data.

• The violent crime rate was nearly 21% lower for the first two years of the Bush Administration (2001-2002), than for 1999-2000.
• The per capita number of violent crimes involving firearms dropped 14% in 2001-2002, from the previous two years.
• There were approximately 64,000 fewer gun crimes in 2001-2002, than in the previous two years.
• There were approximately 12% (almost 130,000) fewer victims of gun crime in 2001-2002, from the previous two years.

However, Firearms Were Used in Two-Thirds (67%) of All Murders in 2002. More than 9,300 people were murdered with guns that year, and guns were involved in over 382,000 violent crimes. Of the 56 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2002, 51 died of gunshot wounds. Despite an overall decline in the number of gun homicides in recent years, the incidence of gun crime remains intolerably high.

Gun Violence Takes a Serious Toll on America's Youth. The impact of gun crime is particularly severe on our children and young adults. Of the approximately 1,360 juveniles murdered in 2002, almost one-half (49%) were killed with a firearm. Over 2,800 students were expelled in 1999-2000 for bringing guns to school - 43% of these students were in elementary or junior high school.

Gun Crime Reduction Is President Bush's Top Domestic Criminal Justice Initiative. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a comprehensive approach that links together state, local, and federal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and community leaders to implement a multi-faceted strategy to deter and punish gun crime. As a nationwide commitment, this initiative seeks to reduce gun crime by providing locally-based programs with the tools and resources they need to succeed. PSN is achieving unprecedented coordination among law enforcement officials in such areas as tactical intelligence gathering and sharing, case coordination and referrals, and enhanced accountability to maximize effectiveness.

Across America, 94 Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Forces Are Working to Implement a Coordinated Strategy to Reduce Gun Crime. Working side-by-side with the state, local and federal law enforcement participants in their communities, the U.S. Attorney and his or her colleagues in each region have identified the most pressing gun crime problems and developed strategies to attack those problems through prevention, deterrence, and aggressive prosecution. Each local program is tailored to fit the unique gun crime problem in that district. Local initiatives often have their own names, such as ICE, Exile, and Ceasefire that reflect their local emphasis and approach.

Project Safe Neighborhoods Is Funding Federal, State and Local Efforts to Fight Gun Crime - Over $1 Billion in Four Years. PSN commits substantial resources to address gun crime. The Bush Administration has devoted over $1 billion to Project Safe Neighborhoods in its first four years (FY 2001 to FY 2004). The funds have been used to hire new federal, state, and local prosecutors, provide training, hire research and community outreach support, and develop and promote effective prevention and deterrence efforts. The following have occurred since the implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods:

• More than 200 federal prosecutors have been hired to prosecute gun crime and gun-related cases.
• Approximately $63 million in grants have been made available to hire approximately 540 new state and local prosecutors to focus on gun crime.
• ATF, together with the national PSN training and technical assistance partners has trained more than 11,000 individuals across the nation who work to make our communities safer. Local PSN programs have organized training for many thousands more.

“ATF is giving local law enforcement tools they can use in the field every day. We are helping local police officers to identify firearms traffickers and recognize patterns and trends in their areas.” - Carl J. Truscott, Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Significant Increase in Federal Firearms Prosecutions. From FY 2000 to FY 2003, federal firearms prosecutions have increased by 68%. In FY 2003, the Department filed over 10,500 federal firearms cases - the highest number ever recorded by the Department. Also, 9,558 defendants originally charged with firearms offenses were convicted of violating federal firearms laws or other non-firearms offenses in FY 2003 - the largest number ever convicted in the federal system in a single year.

Record Number of Defendants Charged and Convicted under PSN. From FY 2002 to FY 2003, the number of defendants charged with federal gun crimes rose from approximately 10,600 to over 13,000, a record increase of almost 23%. These figures are the highest on record in a single year since the Justice Department began recording this information.

Serious Jail Time for Defendants. Under PSN, federal prosecutors focus their resources on the most serious violent offenders, taking them off the street and placing them behind bars where they cannot re-offend. In FY 2003, nearly all (93%) of convicted defendants, who were originally charged with federal firearms offenses, were sentenced to some time in prison for convictions on firearms charges or other charges. Over half of all defendants convicted were sentenced to more than five years in federal prison, and 72% were sentenced to more than three years in prison.

In September 2003, the Justice Department, together with the Ad Council and other PSN partners, launched a new PSA campaign entitled "Mothers." The campaign uses the tag line "Gun crimes hit home" and couples a strong enforcement message with prevention and deterrence messages that focus on the consequences of illegal gun use. From September 27, 2003, when the "Mothers" campaign was launched, through May 10, 2004, the television spots aired a total of 18,231 times during nationally syndicated programs such as ABC World News Tonight, the Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, CBS Morning News, and others. This number does not include donated media results on cable television networks like Bravo, VH-1, ESPN, and CNN. A series of national PSAs entitled "Sentenced," officially launched on January 26, 2004 and aired a total of 3,575 times as of May 10, 2004. These PSAs continue to focus on the pain caused to families when a family member commits a gun crime.

This year at the PSN conference, a new PSN public service ad campaign targeting the problem of domestic violence and firearms is being announced. For some rural communities, domestic violence is often the most significant gun violence issue, and these new ads warn domestic violence offenders that they can’t possess a gun under federal law.

Project ChildSafe is a key component of President Bush's Project Safe Neighborhoods program. It is a nationwide program intended to promote the safe handling and storage of firearms, with an emphasis on preventing children from accessing firearms in the home. In September 2003, Project ChildSafe launched a national tour to distribute millions of gun safety kits in communities across the country. In cooperation with governors' offices, mayors, community leaders, and law enforcement agencies in all 50 states and six U.S. territories, Project ChildSafe embodies the partnership encouraged by Project Safe Neighborhoods. Each kit contains printed materials on both safe gun storage and gun safety information, as well as a cable-style gun lock. Project ChildSafe is administered by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) which, in partnership with local law enforcement groups, uses a fleet of mobile classrooms to bring the safe storage message to local communities. The Project ChildSafe distribution schedule can be found at www.projectchildsafe.org.

The Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative (YCGII) is another PSN element designed to keep guns out of the hands of juveniles. Managed by the ATF, YCGII is an integral component of PSN's Integrated Violence Reduction Strategy directed specifically toward juveniles (under the age of 18) and youth (between the ages of 18 and 24). YCGII directs the exceptional skills of ATF special agents to investigate firearms trafficking and interdict, whenever possible, illegal firearms intended to reach the hands of youth and gang offenders.

Project Sentry is the component of PSN that focuses on the prosecution, prevention and deterrence of juvenile gun crime, including the prosecution of adults who illegally furnish firearms to youth. President Bush has secured nearly $50 million in grants to fund the state and local implementation of Project Sentry (from FY 2002 through FY 2004). Additionally, the Justice Department funds 93 federal Sentry prosecutors in the U.S. Attorneys' offices.

“The well-honed talent that U.S. Marshals bring to PSN is our ability to coordinate efforts that successfully locate criminal fugitives, and then put them behind bars.” - Benigno Reyna, Director of the United States Marshals Service

In January 2004, the United States Marshals Service (USMS) joined the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National District Attorneys Association, as an important national partner in the PSN initiative. The USMS has long been involved at the local level in several communities' PSN efforts -- most notably, the USMS has assisted PSN task forces with apprehending violent firearms offenders through warrant service. PSN task forces across the country will continue to benefit greatly from this enhanced partnership.

Tennessee: Achieving Results Through Partnerships and Cooperation. Partnering with the Memphis Police Department, the District Attorney, ATF, and other state and local law enforcement agencies in its efforts to implement the PSN initiative, the Western District of Tennessee's PSN task force has achieved an impressive level of cooperation among all involved components. On the prosecutorial side, this cooperation is evident in the district's dedicated Firearms Unit, composed of the PSN coordinator, three federal prosecutors, and one state prosecutor, that works to ensure that the most violent offenders are charged in federal court within days of their arrest. On the enforcement side, the enforcement authorities of the PSN task force hold weekly meetings to review information prepared by the Memphis Police Department's PSN unit on all arrests or citations in which a firearm was seized. Using a computerized database developed by the Memphis PD, this information is cross-referenced with records on all PSN cases, enabling task force members to immediately identify recidivists or prior co-defendants. Due in large part to this spirit of cooperation, the Western District of Tennessee has witnessed a 407% increase in its federal gun crime prosecutions since PSN's inception (FY 2000 to FY 2003) and firearms-related homicides fell 16.4% from 2002 to 2003 - and almost 99% of convicted firearms defendants have been sentenced to some time in federal prison.

Alabama: Federal Prosecution Results in Longer Sentences. Because Alabama's firearms statues carry minimal sentences (many state firearms laws are, in fact, misdemeanors), federal prosecution has become a useful tool to ensure that violent gun offenders receive appropriate sentences. To utilize this tool, state prosecutors turn to Alabama's local incarnation of PSN - the ICE ("Isolating the Criminal Element") task force. In one case, a convicted felon and former night club owner who shot and killed one of his patrons was tried federally by state prosecutors working with the Alabama ICE task force. The club owner had previously been tried for murder on state charges but received only a conviction for manslaughter (later reversed on appeal). Taking the lead in the prosecution, the task force indicted the man for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Based solely on his possession of a firearm, the man received a sentence of 24 months in federal prison. Had it not been for the efforts of Alabama ICE, it is unlikely that he would have received any jail time at all.

Maine: A Local Solution for a Local Problem. Resulting in roughly half the state's homicides each year, domestic violence represents the District of Maine's principal violent crime problem. Realizing that a successful Project Safe Neighborhoods program must adapt to the crime problem affecting each jurisdiction, the Maine U.S. Attorney's Office has made domestic violence the target of its PSN campaign. Accordingly, federal gun statutes aimed directly at domestic abusers are used aggressively in PSN prosecutions. In fact, Maine now leads the country in prosecutions brought under these statutes. Had it not been for the USAO's persuasive outreach to encourage the law enforcement and judicial community to become full partners in this effort, it is unlikely that such an aggressive prosecutorial strategy would have been possible. To offer just one illustration of the program’s success, a man who had abused and threatened his wife for six years was prosecuted federally under Section 922(g)(9) after being found in possession of nine firearms and over 900 rounds of ammunition. The defendant was found guilty and sentenced to 27 months in prison. In contrast, a New Hampshire court convicted him of assaulting his wife and sentenced him to a mere 30 days.

Illinois: Number of Homicides Falls to 30-Year Low. The Northern District of Illinois targeted the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago as the focal point of their Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. The PSN task force partnered with state, local, and federal officials, worked with PSN research partners to analyze gun patterns, and interviewed individuals with illegal guns in the "hot spot" areas. PSN gun teams comprised of local and federal officers also saturate the hot zones by removing weapons from the area through search warrants and arrests. The gun teams gather intelligence from the street to stop the pipeline of weapons into the community and use that intelligence to press local and federal charges against traffickers and other weapons offenders. What’s more, at least twice per month the PSN partners conduct "parolee forums" in the hot spot districts. At these forums gun offenders about to be paroled sit down for one hour with law enforcement and community speakers. The parolees hear that they have a choice -- they can return to the gun-toting criminal life, or they can choose a productive, non-criminal life. The law enforcement speakers (including a police commander from their district, an ATF agent, an AUSA, and a state prosecutor) tell them of the strict federal criminal consequences they face if they pick up a gun again. The community speakers (including an ex-offender who has turned his life around) provide details about various job training, education, mental health and drug counseling programs in their community and explain that it is realistic for the parolees to choose to lead a productive, non-criminal life.

This cooperation and research allowed the task force to identify and target for prosecution its most serious offenders. As a result of their efforts, the District has experienced an increase of 126% in federal gun crime prosecutions since PSN efforts began (from FY 2000 to FY 2003). In FY 2003, 90% of convicted defendants were sentenced to prison terms of more than three years, and 75% were sentenced to prison terms of more than five years. In addition to its prosecution efforts, the District is also engaging in prevention programs. One such program is designed to reach students residing in hot spots and encourages them to make decisions that support their lives and the future of their communities. Although establishing concrete links between gun crime prosecution, prevention, and deterrence efforts and a decrease in violent crime requires long-term rigorous study, preliminary results are encouraging. Statistics show that the number of homicides in Chicago fell to a 30-year low, and there were over 800 fewer shootings in 2003 compared to 2002.

Iowa: Increasing Supervision, Curbing Domestic Violence, and Screening All State Arrests. As part of a strategy to focus their PSN efforts on those communities with the highest reported incidence of gun crime, the Northern District of Iowa has developed “Project LOC-UPP” (Listing Offenders Currently Under Probation or Parole), a partnership with the Linn County Attorney’s Office, Cedar Rapids Police Department, and the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services. Project LOC-UPP provides enhanced supervision for individuals identified as being “high-risk” probationers or parolees in an effort to prevent released felons from illegally possessing firearms or ammunition. Project LOC-UPP probationers and parolees are subject to frequent home visits, curfew checks, and home searches conducted by specially trained officers. If a Project LOC-UPP participant violates a condition of his or her supervision, the offender is referred for immediate revocation of probation or parole and considered for any appropriate new prosecution.

In addition to focusing on high-risk felons, the Northern District of Iowa is addressing the correlation between gun crime and domestic violence. Every person in the state who attends a Batterer’s Education Program watches a six-and-one-half minute video featuring John Walsh of “America’s Most Wanted.” The video will also be shown to all state offenders on probation or parole - some 28,000 people in any one year. The video shows interviews of inmates who explain that being incarcerated has meant the loss of contact with family and friends. The video also describes the categories of people who could go to federal prison for possessing a gun or ammunition.

The District’s most recent initiative is the “SIFT” Program (Search of Information for Firearm Tie-ins). SIFT utilizes a locally-developed computer program and screens all arrests in Iowa - averaging about 300 records each business day - to identify firearm-related offenses. Criminal history records are subsequently reviewed to determine if the identified individual has previously been convicted of an offense that would make them ineligible to possess a firearm. If a disqualifying conviction is found, a summary of the criminal history and current arrest is forwarded to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Office then conducts an inquiry to determine if the offender will be prosecuted federally as part of PSN.

These partnerships and offender-targeted strategies have translated into tangible results in the Northern District of Iowa. Federal prosecutions of firearms offenses have increased 62% during the last fiscal year (between FY 2002 and FY 2003). The number of defendants prosecuted for firearms offenses has increased 78% during the last fiscal year alone.

North Carolina: Defendants Unable to "Work the System" to Decrease Sentences. Federal gun and violent gun crime prosecutions under PSN have helped to augment state efforts. In Winston-Salem, a notorious armed career criminal always managed to "work the system" to get a reduced charge or lenient sentence, despite having faced serious offenses numerous times. His luck ended, when the ATF and Winston-Salem police joined forces to investigate a "drink house" shooting and were able to link the man to a cartridge casing found at the scene. Due to the difficulties the state faced with witness intimidation, the defendant was charged as a felon in possession of ammunition and tried federally. Prosecutors made use of a federal grand jury to lock-in witnesses prior to indictment. The strategy paid off, a jury found him guilty as charged and sentenced him to 300 months in prison.

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