BRAVE is working, LSU crime research expert says

LSU sociology department chair Edward Shihadeh, coordinator of the Crime and Policy Evaluation Research group at LSU, today spoke to members at a Rotary Club of Baton Rouge luncheon on the importance of the Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination (BRAVE) Project for crime reduction in the Capital City. “It’s actually on the cutting edge of how people will be responding to crime in the 21st century,” Shihadeh said, presenting innovative maps and scoring systems that allow BRAVE to track criminal hot spots and create lists of the most dangerous offenders. It’s crucial for analysts to comb through upwards of 50,000 records every few weeks to update these hot spots, Shihadeh said, because criminals are savvy about targeting different areas. “Once the criminals realize we’re in an area,” he said, “they move.” This sort of transfer occurs between the zip codes 70805 and 70802, for example, which is why BRAVE’s two recent grants, which add up to $2.4 million for the program, are so important, he added. They will enable the group to expand its focus beyond 70805 to include 70802. BRAVE not only works to stop crime, but to prevent it by bringing criminals on the “hotlist” in for “call-in” sessions in which they are shown their likely future—jail time or death—and offered help, whether it’s GED preparation, drug rehabilitation or help finding a job. The results have been tremendous, Shihadeh said. “Every single day of this year has been less violent than the corresponding day last year.” —Rachel Alexander