Violence Prevention

Violence is a Public Health Issue

Violence is a widespread, complicated public health issue. It has a deep impact on health, opportunity, and well-being throughout life.

Public Health Approach to Violence

A public health approach looks at factors that affect the risk of violence to learn how to prevent it. This means we look at inequities, the underlying drivers of violence, and protective factors that can reduce the risk of violence. While some of this work can make an impact in the short-term, to see lasting change, work must be long-term.

There are many factors that affect whether someone could become engaged in violence or become a victim of violence. These factors influence people across various levels of society:

Individual level – education, income, substance use, and history of trauma
Family/Peer level – influence of peers, healthy relationships, positive connection to others
Community level – neighborhood poverty, residential segregation, social cohesion within the neighborhood
Societal level – policies that affect safe and affordable housing, financial security, education and employment opportunities

Preventing violence can occur at any of these levels, and can take place before, during, and after a violent incident.

Preventing violence before it occurs is focused on reducing the factors that put people at risk of experiencing violence and increasing the factors that protect against violence. Examples of this work includes teaching children and teens about conflict resolution, providing parenting support and education to develop positive parenting skills, improving environmental design like more lighting and security cameras, and advocating for safe gun storage.
Preventing violence during or after an incident works to eliminate the cycle of violence by addressing trauma and reducing risks for future harm for both perpetrators and victims. This work could take the form of crisis intervention, safe harbor or relocation, intensive case management, restorative justice, or trauma counseling.

Guiding Resources

Violence Data

We use both internal and external data to guide our work. For information on the data used to guide our work, and source for local violence data, check out our Violence Data Page.

Our Roadmap to Reducing Violence

Our Violence Prevention Unit coordinates our violence prevention plan, Roadmap to Reducing Violence.

The 5 goals of the Roadmap are:

Understand violence in our community through data
Support community engagement with children, youth, and families
Foster strong neighborhoods
Bolster and increase intervention and continuous healing for those affected by violence
Strengthen community capacity, engagement, and coordination of violence prevention efforts

We promote community-based programs, initiatives, and activities that support these goals through funding, when available, and the work described below.

Gun Violence Position Statement

We support the reduction of harm caused by firearms in our community. Read our gun safety position statement which supports strategies to reduce the ease of access to firearms by people who seek to do harm, increase gun safety, support safe storage, and decrease the harm and destructiveness of firearms.

Prevention Initiatives

Madison Dane County Violence Prevention Coalition

This Coalition is a collaboration of community and government partners. We work to put the goals of the Roadmap to Reducing Violence into place. We meet quarterly to engage in learning opportunities, network, share successes and challenges, and identify opportunities for collaboration.
For more information about the Coalition and how to attend, please email ViolencePrevention@publichealthmdc.com.

Isthmus Safety Initiative

We coordinate this federal grant-funded program to prevent gun crime and sexual violence in the State Street area of Madison. Grant-funded activities include:

Bystander awareness training for bar and restaurant staff in the State Street area. Staff learn how to notice, identify, and safely intervene in situations of sexual violence and gun violence. Fill out a form if you're interested in this training!
Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) activities, including environmental improvements made within the focus area, as well as training for businesses and organizations in the city to learn about and implement environmental improvements as a way to prevent crime.
Outreach and Response Specialists engage with area businesses to understand and respond to emerging issues that may lead to violence in the area. They also engage with community members during evening hours to provide safety resources, safe walks, and other forms of community engagement to improve safety and deescalate conflicts.

Intervention Initiatives

Community Safety Intervention Team (CSIT)

This team of people from multiple agencies meets weekly to discuss violent incidents and at-risk individuals across Dane County. We collaborate and share information in order to:

Address critical incidents that affect the community
Develop a coordinated response for specific individuals or situations
Examine common issues and identify patterns contributing to violence in our community

Read our 2024 CSIT Annual Report.

Community Violence Intervention

Our violence intervention team provides short-term support and advocacy for people and communities impacted by violence. We also:

Support individuals impacted by violence through behavior change, safety planning, and connection to resources and services.
Connect with communities impacted by violence to reduce trauma, improve social cohesion, and build community leadership and engagement.
Facilitate discussions to improve environmental factors that reduce the risk of violence and promote safety and well-being.