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.

Origin and implementation

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.

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. 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.

Support

The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and the Brady Campaign were both early and vocal supporters of Project Exile. Families Against Mandatory Minimums also opposed the project. Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, Angel Shamaya of KeepAndBearArms.com,

Within the first year (1997–1998) Project Exile resulted in: A 2005 study by Richard Rosenfeld and others, published in Criminology & Public Policy, disagreed, concluding that Richmond's gun homicide rate fell more rapidly than the rates in other large U.S. cities, when controlling for other variables.

Legacy

Project Exile, which was confined to Richmond and surrounding areas, has since been supplanted by Virginia Exile, the Commonwealth's statewide program which carries bail restrictions and imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in a Virginia prison for those who:

  • have a prior conviction for a violent felony and are convicted of possessing a firearm;
  • are convicted of possessing a firearm on school property with the intent to use it, or displaying it in a threatening manner;
  • are convicted of possessing a firearm and Schedule I or II drugs such as cocaine or heroin, or convicted of possessing more than a pound of marijuana with the intent to sell.

Notes

Further reading

  • Daniel C. Richman, "Project Exile" and the Allocation of Federal Law Enforcement Authority, 43 Ariz. L. Rev. 369 (2001).
  • Virginia Exile