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Project Exile
Project Exile is a federal program started in Richmond, Virginia, in 1997. Project Exile shifted the prosecution of illegal technical gun possession offenses to federal court, where they carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison under the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, rather than in state court. Note that federal law (18 U.S. Code § 922(g) & 924) at the time provided for a penalty of up to ten years in federal prison for being a "prohibited person", i.e., a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, as well as for falsifying information in order to obtain one, or furnishing a gun to a convicted felon.
The program has since been copied by several other cities, sometimes under other names. In Atlanta, for example, the program was known as FACE 5 (Firearms in Atlanta Can Equal 5 years in federal prison). While many have discontinued or modified their programs, Project Exile is still in effect in Rochester, New York.
The program was designed to address the gang violence which had plagued Richmond. At the time of its inception, the level of murders and shootings had regularly increased each year, with Richmond's murder-per-capita rates being one of the highest five for the country. In 1997, 140 people were murdered, 122 of them with firearms. There was strong community support for federal intervention. The African American community was being devastated by the violence (80% of all the homicide victims in Richmond were African-American). Half of the victims had no prior criminal record and many were innocent bystanders, the result of drug dealers' poor marksmanship and wild shooting at targets of opportunity.
The guiding principle of the program was to remove from the streets those who were mostly likely to commit gun violence: criminals with guns. This included convicted felons caught with guns (federal law prohibits felons from owning firearms) and those who committed crimes with a gun. It also intended to deter would be-offenders with strict sentencing, specifically longer sentences with no possibility of bail or early release.
Project Exile was named for the idea that if the police catch a criminal in Richmond with a gun in a crime, the criminal has forfeited his right to remain in this community, will face immediate federal prosecution and stiff mandatory federal prison sentences (often five years), and will thus be "exiled" to federal prison, often far away from the criminal's home town.
In 1997, the program was implemented in conjunction with an extensive public outreach and media campaign to educate citizens about lengthy federal prison sentences for gun crimes and to maximize deterrence. The message "An Illegal Gun Gets You Five Years in Federal Prison" was placed on 15 billboards, a fully painted city bus carried the message changing routes every day, TV commercials, Metro Richmond traffic reports, over a million supermarket bags were also used to advertise Project Exile. Rochester, New York, became the second city to implement the plan in 1998 under the leadership of Mayor Bill Johnson.
In 2001, after the launch of a similar state program named Virginia Exile, Project Exile evolved from a federal-only program to a larger cooperative effort with state and local authorities meeting bimonthly to review ongoing arrests to determine in which venue to bring the case so as to ensure the maximum possible penalty. President George W. Bush made the program a part of his Project Safe Neighborhoods crime-prevention plan, which included increased funding for U.S. attorneys to prosecute gun crime.
In Congress, Project Exile had both supporters (such as Representative Bill McCollum of Florida, Sue Myrick of North Carolina, and Bob Ehrlich of Maryland) and opponents (such as Representatives Bobby Scott of Virginia and Maxine Waters of California).
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Project Exile
Project Exile is a federal program started in Richmond, Virginia, in 1997. Project Exile shifted the prosecution of illegal technical gun possession offenses to federal court, where they carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison under the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, rather than in state court. Note that federal law (18 U.S. Code § 922(g) & 924) at the time provided for a penalty of up to ten years in federal prison for being a "prohibited person", i.e., a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, as well as for falsifying information in order to obtain one, or furnishing a gun to a convicted felon.
The program has since been copied by several other cities, sometimes under other names. In Atlanta, for example, the program was known as FACE 5 (Firearms in Atlanta Can Equal 5 years in federal prison). While many have discontinued or modified their programs, Project Exile is still in effect in Rochester, New York.
The program was designed to address the gang violence which had plagued Richmond. At the time of its inception, the level of murders and shootings had regularly increased each year, with Richmond's murder-per-capita rates being one of the highest five for the country. In 1997, 140 people were murdered, 122 of them with firearms. There was strong community support for federal intervention. The African American community was being devastated by the violence (80% of all the homicide victims in Richmond were African-American). Half of the victims had no prior criminal record and many were innocent bystanders, the result of drug dealers' poor marksmanship and wild shooting at targets of opportunity.
The guiding principle of the program was to remove from the streets those who were mostly likely to commit gun violence: criminals with guns. This included convicted felons caught with guns (federal law prohibits felons from owning firearms) and those who committed crimes with a gun. It also intended to deter would be-offenders with strict sentencing, specifically longer sentences with no possibility of bail or early release.
Project Exile was named for the idea that if the police catch a criminal in Richmond with a gun in a crime, the criminal has forfeited his right to remain in this community, will face immediate federal prosecution and stiff mandatory federal prison sentences (often five years), and will thus be "exiled" to federal prison, often far away from the criminal's home town.
In 1997, the program was implemented in conjunction with an extensive public outreach and media campaign to educate citizens about lengthy federal prison sentences for gun crimes and to maximize deterrence. The message "An Illegal Gun Gets You Five Years in Federal Prison" was placed on 15 billboards, a fully painted city bus carried the message changing routes every day, TV commercials, Metro Richmond traffic reports, over a million supermarket bags were also used to advertise Project Exile. Rochester, New York, became the second city to implement the plan in 1998 under the leadership of Mayor Bill Johnson.
In 2001, after the launch of a similar state program named Virginia Exile, Project Exile evolved from a federal-only program to a larger cooperative effort with state and local authorities meeting bimonthly to review ongoing arrests to determine in which venue to bring the case so as to ensure the maximum possible penalty. President George W. Bush made the program a part of his Project Safe Neighborhoods crime-prevention plan, which included increased funding for U.S. attorneys to prosecute gun crime.
In Congress, Project Exile had both supporters (such as Representative Bill McCollum of Florida, Sue Myrick of North Carolina, and Bob Ehrlich of Maryland) and opponents (such as Representatives Bobby Scott of Virginia and Maxine Waters of California).