Evaluation of the Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1998-2001
Description
The purpose of this study was to perform an initial
evaluation of key aspects of the Winston-Salem Strategic Approaches to
Community Safety Initiative (SACSI). The research team administered a
SACSI Process Questionnaire to the SACSI Core Team and Working Group
during the fall of 2000. Part 1, SACSI Core Team/Working Group
Questionnaire Data, provides survey responses from 28 members of the
Working Group and/or Core Team who completed the questionnaires.
Variables in Part 1 were divided into four sections: (1) perceived
functioning of the Core Team/Working Group, (2) personal experience of
the group/team member, (3) perceived effectiveness or ineffectiveness
of various elements of the SACSI program, and (4) reactions to
suggestions for increasing the scope of the SACSI program. The
research team also conducted an analysis of reoffending among SACSI
Offenders in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in order to assess whether
criminal behavior changed following the implementation of the
Notification Program that was conducted with offenders on probation to
communicate to them the low tolerance for violent crime in the
community. To determine if criminal behavior changed following the
program, the research team obtained arrest records from the
Winston-Salem Police Department of 138 subjects who attended a
notification session between September 9, 1999, and September 7, 2000.
These records are contained in Part 2, Notification Program Offender
Data. Variables in Part 2 included notification (status and date),
age group, prior record, and 36 variables pertaining to being arrested
for or identified as a suspect in nine specific types of crime.