Research: Prevention

By Rachel Swaner and Julia Kohn

This report describes the nature and scope of children's exposure to violence in eight sites nationwide that were selected to participate in the Attorney General's Defending Childhood demonstration program. This national initiative aims to: 1) prevent children’s exposure to violence; 2) mitigate the negative impact of such exposure when it does occur, and; 3) develop knowledge and spread awareness about children’s exposure to violence. This report is a formative evaluation that describes the common and unique strategies the sites chose for addressing the problem, and draws key lessons from the planning phase related to collaboration, community engagement, problem definition and framing, implementation timing, data, and evaluation. These lessons may be useful to other jurisdictions that seek to address children's exposure to violence in their own communities.