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Traditional methods of addressing workplace violence have relied almost solely on reactive measures. Methods of de‐escalation, strategies to calm the already distressed person down by means of positive communication, or responding to an actual or potential act of violence by means of physical control have formed the focus of training initiatives provided for staff. This approach has suggested an acceptance of the premise that violence in certain services is an inevitable problem that must be managed. This paper proposes that many incidents can be prevented and outlines the emerging evidence to support a structured, holistic approach. Additionally, it provides an overview of the recent policy agenda, the evidence base and examples of some recent and ongoing development work that attempts to change practice.

This paper is designed to critically review and analyze the body of research on a popular gang reduction strategy, implemented widely in the United States and a number of other countries, to: (1) assess whether researchers designed their evaluations to align with the theorized causal mechanisms that bring about reductions in violence; and (2) discuss how evidence on gang programs is generated and consumed. That review and assessment is then used to frame a research agenda for studying gang interventions.

A case study design is used to generate a multi-faceted understanding of the possible avenues for evaluation research on the law enforcement-based strategy known as the Group Violence Intervention. The paper discusses questions that remain to be answered about the strategy, such as “what type of deterrence is operating?” and if the model actually works by the threat of deterrence, and not by removing high-risk offenders and shootings from the street, what activities are needed to maintain the effect?

Across roughly two dozen impact evaluations of GVI, none have examined the likely cause and effect components of this multi-partner strategy in reducing the violence. Furthermore, there are many issues related to the production and generation of criminal justice evaluation research that have adversely pushed the balance of evidence on what works in gang reduction toward law enforcement programming. However, there are many strategies that researchers can use to think broadly about appropriate and holistic research and evaluation on gangs and gang programming.

The recommendations for research, if implemented, can help build a body of knowledge to move toward community-based and restorative models of gang violence reduction.

This original piece is one of the first essays to contextualize and discuss how aspects of the production of social science research on gangs may directly impact what programs and strategies are implemented on the ground.

The purpose of this paper was to report on the evaluation of the network and resources for violence prevention and reduction in the chosen area of focus. This area had experiences deprivation, significant implications due to Covid-19 restrictions and a lack of outdoor recreation space.

Network analysis methodologies are increasingly being used in criminological research and evaluations to assess the structures of social and economic networks. This study explored, using a mixed-methods network analysis methodology, the nature of the established violence reduction network in a specific geographical location in West Midlands.

A breadth of network activity is taking place across the community; however, the network analysis highlighted gaps in terms of specialist provision for early years and support from those with lived experience. It was perceived that a lack of continuity, in terms of changes in key roles, has affected the network. Funding mechanisms were perceived ineffective, and not encouraging of development of localisation services. Relationships between network members were predominantly positive with organisations having good communication and accessing support from one another; however, identifying shared goals and better collective working would benefit the network.

This study pioneers using an innovative, mixed methods network analysis to explore a public health approach to violence prevention and reduction. Quantitative data collection and analysis allowed for assessment of the networks capacity and density, whereas qualitative data provided insights and detailed accounts of how the network functions.

A central focus of Sustainable Development Goal 16 is to ‘Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere’. This chapter explores the magnitude of this task, focussing on the persistence – and in some cases intensification – of stark differences both within and between societies around the world in the level of suffering and death imposed by ‘ordinary’ violence in the streets and homes. These differences dramatically shape the lived experience of people on different sides of what I call the ‘violence divide’. At the extreme, they produce rates of violent death that are over 200 times higher in the most dangerous countries than in the least. These disparities are both a consequence and a cause of failures of sustainable and equitable development. They are sharpest and most consequential between parts of the global South and most of the advanced industrial societies, but they also appear in stark relief within some advanced societies, most notably the United States, reflecting broader, enduring inequities that are only weakly challenged, if at all, in the current political climate. Reducing these fundamental disparities in life and death will require moving well beyond the relatively minor criminal justice reforms and limited prevention efforts that often dominate national and international dialogue, to grapple seriously with the structural forces that breed them.

Knife crime and serious violent crime (SVC) among youth has been growing at an alarming rate in the UK (Harding and Allen, 2021). Community and school-based intervention and prevention services to tackle knife crime are being developed with some evaluation; however, these are independent and of varied quality and rigour. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to record the approaches being developed and synthesise existing evidence of the impact and effectiveness of programmes to reduce knife crime. In addition, the complex factors contributing to knife crime and SVC are discussed.

A systematic approach was used to conduct this knife crime intervention evidence review using two search engines and four databases. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to ensure focus and relevance. The results of searches and decisions by the research team were recorded at each stage using Preferred Reporting Items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA).

Some evidence underpins the development of services to reduce knife crime. Much of the evidence comes from government funded project reports, intervention and prevention services reports, with few studies evaluating the efficacy of intervention programmes at present. Some studies that measured immediate impact in line with the programme’s aims were found and demonstrated positive results.

This systematic review specifically synthesised the evidence and data derived from knife crime and weapon carrying interventions and preventions, integrating both grey and published literature, with a novel discussion that highlights the importance of outcome evaluations and issues with measuring the success of individual level interventions and their contributions to the overall reduction of violence.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the reduction of school violence from the management point of view. It reflects on the utterances by teachers, principals, learners and members of school governing bodies (SGBs) to establish the influence that school management practices can have on the prevalence of school violence.

This was a qualitative case study. Thus, semi-structured interviews with teachers, principals, learners and members of SGBs were conducted. In addition, focus group interviews with pupils and observations were used to collect data.

Findings suggest that most schools were still run in an authoritarian manner. Resultantly, it was also found that an authoritarian school management style practiced seemed to encourage the persistence of violence in schools.

Policies should incorporate and emphasise the use of pragmatic, critical democratic style of management to address school violence. This is important because a well-run, inclusive and more democratic school can help to reduce external and internal forms of violence. The results from this study further indicate that a poorly run and badly organised school is more prone to various forms of violence.

The paper adds to the growing body of knowledge in the field of educational management and offers a reference point for further research in the pursuit to eliminate violence in schools. The findings may also be a useful resource for school principals, teachers, policy-makers and other stakeholders who are seeking to eliminate violence in schools.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the violence-reduction effects following an FBI-led gang takedown in South Central Los Angeles.

The time series impact of the intervention was estimated using a Bayesian diffusion-regression state-space model designed to infer a causal effect of an intervention using data from a similar (non-targeted) gang area as a control.

A statistically significant 22 percent reduction in violent crime was observed, a reduction that lasted at least nine months after the interdiction.

The research method does make assumptions about the equivalency of the control area, though statistical checks are employed to confirm the control area crime rate trended similarly to the target area prior to the intervention.

The paper demonstrates a minimum nine-month benefit to a gang takedown in the target area, suggesting that relatively long-term benefits from focused law enforcement activity are possible.

Longer-term crime reduction beyond just the day of the intervention can aid communities struggling with high crime and rampant gang activity.

Few FBI-led gang task force interventions have been studied for their crime reduction benefit at the neighborhood level. This study adds to that limited literature. It also introduces a methodology that can incorporate crime rates from a control area into the analysis, and overcome some limitations imposed by ARIMA modeling.

This study examines the effect of TimeZup – a lever pulling strategy designed to reduce gun violence in New Haven, Connecticut.

A series of ARIMA and dynamically complete models are estimated to determine if TimeZup was associated with any significant changes in New Haven's murder, firearm robbery and firearm assault rates. A quasi-experimental design is also used to compare New Haven to six, similarly situated cities in the Northeastern United States.

The results indicate that New Haven experienced a significant decrease in its firearm robbery rate in the summer of 1997 – a date that preceded TimeZup but coincided with other lever pulling strategies implemented by the New Haven Police Department.

Although an older program, TimeZup was not rigorously analyzed. After the conclusion of the program, basic pre- and post-comparisons suggested TimeZup was effective. Using a rigorous methodology, this study shows it was not. This study points out that interventions such as TimeZup often coincide with pre-existing crime reduction strategies. Evaluators should account for those pre-existing strategies because it may be those strategies – and not the intervention being examined – that are impacting crime rates.

This chapter aims to measure the total impact of conflict and violence to the global economy. By aggregating the most recent research on the costs of specific types of violence such as organized conflict, homicide, battle deaths, military spending, and incarceration, a comprehensive country-specific cost of violence and violence containment methodology is developed. The estimated benefit to the global economy of perfect peacefulness is at least 9.8 trillion dollars over the long run.

Breakaway training is a mandatory training programme for mental health staff in both NHS and private services. However, the question that remains outstanding from the recent guidance on the management of short‐term violence published by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) (NICE, 2005a; 2005b) is whether breakaway training is effective?This paper provides a history of and evidence for breakaway training, and a study examining the content of breakaway training in one English high secure hospital is provided.