Place-Based Field Experiments to Test Gun Violence Reduction Strategies

• Activity Number: 255 - Data and Challenges for Unraveling Gun Violence
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 4, 2020 : 1:00 PM to 2:50 PM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): John MacDonald*
• Companies: University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

Remediating blighted vacant urban land can help reduce firearms violence in US cities. A randomized controlled trial and a quasi-experimental evaluation of place-based interventions to remediate vacant land and abandoned housing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are shown to reduce firearm violence. Place-based interventions to remediate vacant land and abandoned housing can be tested in the field through randomized controlled trials in other settings. When shown to be effective at reducing firearm violence in a field experiment, place-based interventions that address blighted spaces can be scaled to entire cities to develop effective firearm violence–reduction strategies.