CeaseFire Chicago

CeaseFire launched in West Garfield Park, one of the most violent communities in Chicago in 2000 and was quick to produce results reducing shootings by 67% in its first year. CeaseFire’s results have since been replicated more than 18 times in Chicago and throughout Illinois and has now been shown effective by an extensive, U.S. Department of Justice funded, independent three-year evaluation. This evaluation demonstrated CeaseFire’s success in reducing shootings and killings. The Model has been replicated more than a dozen times nationally and has two international sites in Iraq.

In June 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., head of the Department of Justice referenced CeaseFire as an example of “a rational, data-driven, evidence-based, smart approach to crime – the kind of approach that this Administration is dedicated to pursuing and supporting.” The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted a subsequent evaluation of the Baltimore-based CeaseFire replication with initial results consistent with earlier Department of Justice findings, and the University of Kansas demonstrated a 38% reduction in homicides for the first CeaseFire zone in Kansas City. Fittingly, “The World in 2009” edition of the Economist described the CeaseFire disease control model as “the approach that will come to prominence.”