Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, partners begin new Youth Group Violence Intervention Expansion Pilot initiative

As part of ongoing efforts to address violence committed by youth, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty today announced a new Youth Group Violence Intervention (YGVI) Expansion Pilot initiative had begun work in Hennepin County. Created in partnership with Hennepin County Safe Communities, the new initiative’s goal is to intervene and provide support and resources for young people and families to help them take a path away from group-involved violence and prevent future violence.

The first jurisdictions participating in this strategy of focused deterrence are Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park. The multi-disciplinary group representing law enforcement, service providers, and community members held its first meeting today.

“Too many people are being harmed and killed by violence in our neighborhoods,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “It is not enough to prosecute cases of violence after they occur, we must do everything we can to prevent violence from happening at all. Law enforcement knows the young people living in and around this violence, and strategies like YGVI help us intervene earlier to get a young person on the right path. Focused deterrence is effective because it addresses the actions of the small groups most responsible for driving serious violence through partnerships between community, social service providers, and law enforcement acting together.”

Moriarty was joined at today’s announcement by:

• Shawn Fricke, head of juvenile unit, Brooklyn Park Police Department
• Sasha Cotton, Executive Director of the National Network for Safe Communities
• Jen White, Hennepin County Attorney’s Office YGVI project lead and director of community affairs
• Muhammad Abdul-Ahad, Executive Director of T.O.U.C.H Outreach
• Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Lunde

The YGVI Expansion announced today complements an initiative developed in 2022 by the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County Juvenile Probation that focused on young people who were already on supervised probation. This expansion pilot meets a critical need for services at an earlier point by creating a pathway to intervention from law enforcement referrals of young people who are not already on probation.

YGVI draws from GVI, an evidence-informed, internationally used model pioneered and supported by the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College. The GVI process involves direct intervention with the groups involved in violence through the following:

• Participants hear a credible moral message against violence.
• Law enforcement puts groups on notice about the procedurally just consequences of further violence for the group.
• Support and outreach providers make a genuine offer of help for those who want help escaping from the cycle of violence. Support and outreach providers help protect them from risk, provide needed resources, address trauma, and create offramps away from the cycle of violence.

YGVI is rooted in the same approaches, but outreach and services are tailored to the developmental needs of young people and the process also includes families and support structures around the young people. The new Hennepin County YGVI process involves four steps:

• Law enforcement prepares the YGVI Custom Notification Referral Form for each young person they think may be appropriate for YGVI services.

• Custom Notification Review Meeting – Every two weeks a multidisciplinary group including community outreach providers, violence prevention staff from participating jurisdictions, and other partners meet to review each referred young person, determine whether the young person meets eligibility criteria, and begin to design an intervention plan.

• Custom Notification – A Custom Notification is the method of delivering the GVI message to young people and their support system. A small, non-law enforcement group, led by a trusted community provider, makes direct contact with a young person and their support system.

The notification is used to communicate to the young person and their support system that the young person is a valued member of the community, to give information about the risks associated with continued involvement with violence, to offer credible and immediate opportunities for help, and to enroll interested young people in services.

• Provider Support and Outreach -- For young people who choose to engage in services following a Custom Notification, YGVI Support and Outreach providers – who are credible members of the community – will serve as an ongoing accessible community-based resource. They will act as a positive, trusted adult and will help participating young people address whatever may be needed to help them exit cycles of violence and stay safe, alive, and free.

Homicides and gun violence are often concentrated in small groups. Often, group members are only about half of a percent of a city’s population but can be involved in as much as 70 percent of its homicide and gun violence. 

The homicide rate for those in that population may be about 100 times the national average. Those at the highest risk of perpetrating gun violence are often the same as those who face the highest risk of becoming a shooting victim. 

GVI is designed to reduce group-involved homicide and gun violence associated with those groups. By focusing both deterrence and resources and support for people wishing to exit involvement in cycles of violence toward members of these small groups, it is possible to have a significant impact on community violence and the lives of those in these groups. 

GVI is rooted in research and evidence. Evaluations of the Group Violence Intervention model have shown success. Peer-reviewed findings include:                

• 23% reduction in overall shooting behavior among groups targeted through GVI in Chicago.
• 36% reduction in group-related shootings among groups targeted through GVI in Boston.
• 32% reduction in victimization among groups targeted through GVI in Chicago.
• 32% decrease in group-member involved homicides in New Orleans.
• 41% reduction in group-member involved homicides in Cincinnati.