The Impact of Newark's Operation Ceasefire on Trauma Center Gunshot Wound Admissions

• Author: Chia-Cherng Cheng,Jennifer L. Lanterman,Joseph E. Pascarella,Douglas J. Boyle
• Published date: 01 December 2010
• Date: 01 December 2010
• DOI: 10.3818/JRP.12.2.2010.105
• Subject Matter: Article

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Douglas J. Boyle

Jennifer L. Lanterman

Joseph E. Pascarella

Chia-Cherng Cheng

Violence Institute of New Jersey

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

* Abstract

We examined the impact of Newark’s Operation Ceasef‌ire on gunshot wound admissions

(GSW) to the Level 1 Trauma Center at University Hospital for a three-year period. Inter-

rupted time series analyses revealed that there were no statistically signif‌icant reductions

in GSW rates in the Ceasef‌ire Zone after the introduction of Ceasef‌ire in Newark. Similarly,

there were no statistically signif‌icant changes in GSW rates in the matched comparison

zone or the Trauma Center’s wider catchment area. A dual kernel density hot spot map

conf‌irmed these f‌indings by identifying changes in hot spots that were non-systematic, with

no consistent pattern of change over time. Future research should focus on conduct

ing

both process and outcome evaluations of the various adaptations of the Ceasef‌ire model

in order to help inform policy makers’ decisions regarding the selection of violence reduc-

tion programs.

This paper was presented on November 4, 2009, at the annual meeting of the American

Society of Criminology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We would like to thank the staff

at the University Hospital Trauma Center at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of

New Jersey, and in particular Dr. Livingston and Mr. Lavery for allowing us access to data

and facilitating our data collection.

JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2010

© 2010 Justice Research and Statistics Association

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Injuries resulting from interpersonal violence exact substantial costs for individual

victims as well as society. Data collected from the National Electronic Injury Sur-

veillance System revealed that in 2001 approximately 1.8 million individuals were

treated in emergency departments for non-fatal, assault-related injuries across the

United States (Vyrostek, Annest, & Ryan, 2004, table 4). In Newark, New Jersey,

the focus of the present study, individuals are treated in emergency departments for

assault-related injuries at a rate of 1,341 admissions per 100,000 residents annu-

ally, with African-American males being admitted at the highest rate of 2,854 per

100,000 (Boyle & Hassett-Walker, 2008, p. 1017).

In response to these and other research f‌indings, researchers, public health

practitioners, and criminal justice professionals have turned their attention to

efforts

seeking to prevent violence, and have proposed programs to accomplish

this. Boston’s Operation Ceasef‌ire and CeaseFire Chicago are two widely known

programs aimed at reducing f‌irearms violence. Reports of the success from these

two programs have led to their adaptation and adoption in many jurisdictions

across the United States dealing with violence that is not responding to traditional

law enforcement measures.

As a result of fears over the climbing annual number of murders and an uptick

in gun violence,

a collaborative working group of stakeholders in Newark, New

Jersey, adopted Operation Ceasef‌ire, a hybrid of the Boston and Chicago mod-

els, to address gun violence in one of its most violent neighborhoods. The pres-

ent study employs data on gunshot wounds (GSW) treated at an urban Level 1

Trauma Center (hereafter, Trauma Center), collected as part of an ongoing GSW

surveillance system, to examine the impact of Newark’s Operation Ceasef‌ire on

GSW admissions to the Trauma Center. The authors of the present study are not

aff‌iliated with the Ceasef‌ire program, and the surveillance system described in this

manuscript is unrelated to the initiation of the Ceasef‌ire program in Newark.

* Operation Ceasef‌ire Newark

Newark has a population over 273,000, making it the largest city in New Jersey

(U.S. Census, 2000). It also has the most crime of any New Jersey municipality.

Of the top 15 urban centers prof‌iled by the State Police for 2005, Newark had the

highest crime index and the largest number of violent crimes of any city statewide

(State of New Jersey, 2006, p. 108). Beginning in 2002, Newark experienced a

steady increase in murders and the use of f‌irearms. Despite law enforcement

ef

forts, the number of murders rose steadily each year from 68 in 2002 (State of

New Jersey, 2003, p. 108) to 107 in 2006 (State of New Jersey, 2007, p. 108). The

inability of traditional law enforcement efforts to reduce gun violence along with

increased public fear led researchers and criminal justice professionals to look for

a new solution to the intractable problem of gun violence in the city.