Cure Violence

Violence interruption is an immediate response to imminent violence; people who perform this work are referred to as interrupters. They work with their clients to find peaceful alternatives to potentially violent situations.[7][8][9] The way they approach this is personalized to the client and the situation. For example, if they are facing cyclical gang violence then the worker might talk to their client about the perpetual harm this causes and attempt to broker peace through talks.[10]

In either case, Cure Violence emphasizes that the interrupter should be seen as a credible messenger by the client.[11] In the case of cyclical gang violence, they employ workers with a history of violence, with an emphasis on former gang members, so that they can genuinely relate to the clients they work with.[7][12][13] In either case, they avoid acting as informants or agents of law enforcement, as they claim that this would undermine the goal of being a credible messenger.[7][14][15][11][16] They also try to employ interrupters who live in the area that they work in order to facilitate organic information gathering and obtain a natural path for approaching potential clients.[8][11]

Workers will also sometimes reach out to potential victims in order to give them advice on how to stay safe and connect them with third-party resources that specialize in helping victims.[8]

Some people, particularly law enforcement officials, criticize the credible messenger aspect because it means that the people employed by Cure Violence are frequently convicted offenders. Preceding a collaborative agreement between Cure Violence and the Chicago Police Department, then-superintendent Garry McCarthy told WBEZ that he disliked their methods because Cure Violence workers "tell people, ‘Well, don’t talk to the police. We understand you can’t trust the police, but look at us, you can trust us’ - they’re undercutting that legitimacy that we’re trying to create in the community”.[17] The executive director of Cure Violence, Tio Hardiman, responded to this by stating that their workers do not actively discourage people from reporting or otherwise cooperating with police. However, he did acknowledge that some tension exists when he told WBEZ that "[I]f the young guys that we work with feel that we’re … being informants, or whatever, there’s a chance some of our staff will lose their lives.".[18]

Outreach workers (who are often the same people as interrupters[6]) help clients find jobs, educational opportunities, or social services.[7][6][16] When working with gang members who typically restrict themselves to a certain territory, outreach workers will invite them to events outside of their territory in order to expand their horizons.[6] Workers also help clients avoid parole violations; additionally, workers advocate for leniency in sentencing if the client has been actively engaged with the outreach worker.[6]

Cure Violence organizes community activities and distributes educational material, which they claim shifts the norms towards non-violence. After a public shooting, they might organize a march against violence [19] or a vigil for the deceased.[20][21] When relevant, they might invite the people they are working with to the vigils under the belief that witnessing the effects of shootings will make them less likely to commit violence in the future.[6] Additionally, when the clients are people who are connected to a recent victim, workers believe that attending a respectful funeral can give their clients a healthy outlet for their grief, distracting them from thoughts of revenge.[22]

Community norm change can go beyond publicly visible events. In Baltimore, workers claim to have negotiated a long-lasting peace treaty between rival groups. Additionally, they persuaded gang members to avoid wearing flags advertising their gang affiliations.[23] Their goal is to build a culture of non-violence even within organizations that are otherwise engaged in criminal activity.

In May 2008, Professor Wesley G. Skogan, an expert on crime and policing at Northwestern University, completed a three-year, independent, Department of Justice-funded report on CeaseFire, which found that the program successfully reduced shootings and killings by 41% to 73%.[6] Shootings were reduced by up to 28% in four of the seven communities examined in the report.[40]

A three-year evaluation of the Chicago implementation by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2009 found shootings and killings were reduced by 41 percent to 73 percent, shooting hot spots were reduced in size and intensity, and retaliatory murders were eliminated. "A striking finding was how important CeaseFire loomed in their lives", the researchers stated in the report. "Clients noted the importance of being able to reach their outreach worker at critical moments—when they were tempted to resume taking drugs, were involved in illegal activities, or when they felt that violence was imminent."[41] The lead evaluator commented that, "I found the statistical results to be as strong as you could hope for."[42]

In an independent evaluation of the Cure Violence model at the Baltimore partner program site commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and conducted by Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore's Safe Streets program, the Cure Violence partner site, is credited with reducing shootings and killings by up to 34–56%. Community norm changes occurred, even with non-clients and reductions spread to surrounding communities.[43]

In 2010, the United States Department of Justice contracted with the Center for Court Innovation to evaluate the Cure Violence New York City program partner site, and found the gun violence rate in the program site to be 20% lower than what it would have been had its change mirrored the average change in comparison precincts.[44]

The John Jay College of Criminal Justice was contracted by several funders to conduct an  extensive, independent evaluation on the Cure Violence approach in New York City, which found a reduction in violence, a shift in norms, and an improvement in police-community relations. The evaluation found a 37% to 50% reduction in gun injuries in the two communities examined.[45] Additionally, the study found a 14% reduction in attitudes supporting violence (with no change in controls) and an increased confidence in police and increased willingness to contact police.[46] A 2015 report found that the average homicide rate in NYC program neighborhoods fell by 18% while increasing an average 69% in comparison neighborhoods.[47]

An evaluation of the program in Port of Spain, Trinidad conducted by Arizona State University and funded by the Inter-American Development Bank found a 45% reduction in violent crime in the service area.[48]

The Chicago Tribune has published multiple editorials expressing support for the program.[49][50][51][31]

In 2005, then-First Lady Laura Bush visited CeaseFire headquarters in Chicago and praised their achievements.[52][53]

Daniel Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, advocates for CeaseFire's approach to violent crime, believing the benefits of intercession are many. On CNN.com, Webster said, "Violence is reciprocal. Stopping one homicide through mediation could buy you peace for months down the road."[54]

In 2021, Cure Violence was listed as the 9th top NGO by NGO Advisor (now thedotgood) in its "Top 20 NGO's World" list.[55]

In 2021, the National Gang Center graded Cure Violence model as promising.[56]

• Baltimore Safe Streets in Baltimore, Maryland[54]
• Aim 4 Peace in Kansas City, Missouri
• Cure for Camden, Camden, New Jersey (inactive)
• CeaseFire Illinois, Chicago (inactive)
• CeaseFire New Orleans, Louisiana
• Brooklyn/Crown Heights, New York City
• Cure Violence/NYC Mission Society, Harlem, New York City
• Stand Against Violence, East Harlem, New York City
• 49 Strong Saving Lives, Staten island
• Save our Streets, Bronx, New York City
• Cure Violence, South Jamaica, New York City
• Cure Violence Philadelphia
• Philadelphia CeaseFire
• City of San Antonio- Stand Up SA
• Cease Violence, Wilmington, Delaware (inactive)
• Taller de Salud, Inc., Loiza Puerto Rico

• CeaseFire Hanover Park (2 sites), in Hanover Park, Cape Town, South Africa
• Project Reason in Laventille, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
• Cristo de la Roca in San Pedro Sula, Honduras
• Cure Violence plus PeaceTXT messaging to reduce election violence, Sisi Ni Amani-Kenya
• American Islamic Congress, 3 sites in Basrah and 2 sites in Sadr City-Baghdad, Iraq
• Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
• Barrio Positivo, Honduras
• CeaseFire Halifax, Canada

• Advance Peace in Richmond, California
• READI in Chicago, Illinois
• Operation SNUG in New York
• CYO, Inc. in Oakland, California
• The Chaos Theory (The Safety Box) in London, UK