Serious Firearm Offender Program Evaluation

The Division of Criminal Justice proposes to implement the Smart Prosecution - Innovative Prosecution Solutions Program to evaluate the Serious Firearm Offender (SFO) program and assess whether it is meeting the intended goal to reduce violent crime. The state’s innovative legislative changes regarding serious firearm offenders took effect in October 2023. The program’s purpose is to evaluate the SFO program and assess the implementation of a streamlined data entry system that is critical to continuing to assess the impacts of the legislative changes and similar policy changes in the future. The project’s primary activities are: harvest retroactive and current data from each JD on eligible and petitioned serious firearm offenders; conduct regular consultation with each JD to address challenges with the use and/or tracking of the SFO petition; analyze outcomes for eligible or petitioned serious firearm offenders; and develop and implement effective data collection and analysis methods to continue to track the impacts of this policy beyond the grant period. Expected outcomes include: increasing public safety by reducing gun violence through a data-based program evaluation of recent prevention, and combating violent crime and enhancing public safety by implementing practices that better administer justice to communities experiencing the highest rates of gun violence.