Community Prosecution involves a long-term, proactive partnership among the prosecutor's office, law enforcement, the community and public and private organizations, whereby the authority of the prosecutor's office is used to solve problems, improve public safety and enhance the quality of life of community members. The American Prosecutors Research Institute's National Center for Community Prosecution (NCCP), through its partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, has defined and advanced community prosecution for over ten years. NCCP develops and promotes community prosecution initiatives, gives prosecutors the tools to successfully implement them and educates prosecutors on how they can work with their communities to become better leaders in public safety.
Training
NCCP conducts Community Prosecution Trainings providing prosecutors of all experience levels with valuable information on existing community prosecution programs, creative legal strategies, strategic planning, evaluation techniques and identification of resources to support new efforts. NCCP educates state, local and federal prosecutors in the planning, implementation and enhancement of their community prosecution initiatives.
Technical Assistance
NCCP staff provides prosecutors with new legal strategies to address quality of life issues such as drug houses and street level drug dealing, prostitution, chronic nuisance offenders and problem properties. This technical assistance is provided through:
CALL FOR PROSECUTION PAPERS -- Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice ...more information
Community Prosecution Techniques to Reduce Drug-Related Gang Activity Within the last decade or so, gangs have migrated to suburban and, in some instances, rural jurisdictions across America. Community prosecutors are uniquely situated to proactively implement strategies that anticipate potential neighborhood problems and create safer communities. This monograph offers community prosecution tools that reduce gang crime by using trespass laws to eliminate gang “hot spots.” Download publication
Managing Innovation: A Closer Look at Community Prosecution Management Issues In community prosecution, unlike traditional prosecution, community prosecutors involve neighborhood residents in identifying crime and crime-related issues and community members work together with prosecutors to formulate solutions (Gramckow, 1997). To investigate the differences between these approaches, in 2004, the American Prosecutors Research Institute’s (APRI) Office of Research and Evaluation, the research and development division of the National District Attorneys Association, conducted a survey of all prosecutors throughout the nation. Download publication
Prosecutor’s Comprehensive Gang Response Model
The Prosecutor’s Comprehensive Gang Response Model, presented in this monograph, is the result of a three-day symposium in which experts from the fields of prosecution, policing, juvenile justice, state and local government, schools, community-based organizations, faith-based groups and researchers convened to discuss successful approaches in gang prevention, intervention, suppression, and reentry. Download publication
The Response of Multnomah County to Neighborhood Crime: 1990–2005
This monograph details the Multnomah County (Portland,OR) District Attorney’s community prosecution unit. Download publication
Just Look What You've Done
Determining the Effectiveness of Community Prosecution
Listen to an NPR Report on a neighborhood prosecutor program in Kalamazoo, Michigan. ...listen to report
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Trespass-Exclusion Policy
Community prosecutors across the country increasingly use neighborhood access restrictions to combat crimes such as drug dealing and prostitution. In a recent landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld these restrictions. ...read summary
This Web site was prepared under Cooperative Agreement Number 2000-PP-CX-K001 from the Office of Justice Programs-Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this Web site are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the Department of Justice, NDAA or APRI.
Lessons from the Field
From the Courtroom to the Community
Unwelcome Guests
The Changing Nature of Prosecution 
What Does it Mean to Practice Community Prosecution? 
Juvenile Delinquency and Community Prosecution