Major issues of Operation Ceasefire.

Reasoning

This finding aligns perfectly with the foundational problem-solving and community-centric approach that distinguishes Operation Ceasefire and similar interventions:

Deterrence Theory and Social Context: The core of Operation Ceasefire's "pulling levers" strategy is deterrence: the explicit communication that violence will lead to certain, immediate, and severe sanctions. For deterrence to be effective, offenders must have "stakes in conformity" that they fear losing. In a community with high social strength (strong informal social control, collective efficacy, and positive ties), an arrest, or the threat of one, represents a much higher cost to the individual. It risks alienating them from a supportive network, employment opportunities, and community respect. Therefore, arrest is more likely to be an effective deterrent in these areas.

Weak Social Control and Backfiring Effects: Conversely, in communities with low social strength (high social disorganization, lack of opportunity, and strained police-community relations), an arrest might not carry the same heavy social cost, and may even be seen as a normal, anticipated event. In some cases, as suggested by other research, aggressive low-level policing in communities with strained social systems can actually be counter-productive, potentially undermining local residents' willingness to engage in informal social control or trust the police. This environment would lead to a lower or even negative effect on future offending, confirming that the effect of the arrest is context-dependent.

Ceasefire's Holistic Design: Operation Ceasefire itself was not just a policing strategy; it was an interagency, multi-faceted approach. It combined focused enforcement (the "stick") with social services and job opportunities (the "carrot"), often delivered by trusted community members and clergy (like the Ten Point Coalition). The effectiveness of the "carrot" is directly tied to the community's social strength—a strong community is better equipped to offer and maintain these supportive resources, increasing the offender's "stake" in a law-abiding life and making the threat of losing that life (the arrest) more meaningful.

Sample Answer

Question 4: Three Major Issues of Operation Ceasefire

Operation Ceasefire (also known as the Boston Gun Project), while highly effective in reducing youth gun violence in Boston, faced significant challenges, particularly concerning its sustainability and political support.

Here are three major issues of Operation Ceasefire:

Lack of Sustainability Due to Leadership and Political Changes: The initial, highly successful implementation of Operation Ceasefire in Boston was discontinued in 2000 due to a combination of factors, including the loss of key leadership, shortages of manpower, and political wrangling within the police department and city government. This instability led to a subsequent re-increase in gang-related homicides as conflicts went unchecked. The program had to be reinstated years later (in 2007) to address the renewed rise in violence, highlighting a critical flaw in its initial long-term institutionalization.

Credit-Claiming and Interagency Rivalry: Following the program's initial success, there was an issue of multiple sides attempting to claim credit for the achievement, including the police, probation officers, social workers, and the Ten Point Coalition. This political maneuvering and interagency friction can undermine the collaborative, multi-agency working group model that is absolutely essential to the "pulling levers" strategy, where law enforcement, community groups, and service providers must work in a unified front.

Potential for Inflexibility in Intervention Deployment: While the program was founded on research and constant evaluation, a practical implementation issue was the inflexibility of the initial decision-making process. Some situations required immediate intervention from street-level officers and youth workers, but the original model suggested that "decisionmaking could not always wait for the Working Group to convene or even consult." This meant the response might sometimes be too slow or inflexible for the rapidly evolving dynamics of street violence, indicating a challenge in translating the strategic model into immediate, tactical street-level action.

Question 5: Expectation of Marciniak's (2021) Finding

Yes, based on the overarching themes of Operation Ceasefire and related research, one would expect Marciniak's (2021) finding that "the effects of arrests on the offending were highly