Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence

In 1992, scholars at the University of Colorado at Boulder formed the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV). Under the direction of Dr. Delbert Elliott, this multidisciplinary organization works to compile and disseminate information on youth violence and the policies and programs related to its prevention. In the 1990s, when the CSPV was founded, youth violence had become an increasing concern. Rates of youth violence appeared to be rising faster than ever before. In the 1980s, gang and drug-related violence in urban, high-poverty areas became increasingly visible. These high-crime, high-poverty areas were largely populated by racial minorities, especially African Americans, linking race and crime together in the minds of many. Many scholars began work designed to better understand the purported relationship between race and crime. The CSPV began a number of research projects aimed at developing a general understanding of the various forms of youth violence, with and without regard to race, and the approaches taken to curb it. These projects provide some insight on the race-crime relationship but overall provide a foundation for the CSPV's ongoing research aimed at determining “what works” in preventing youth violence.

Today, the CSPV conducts research, provides training and technical assistance for those developing, implementing, and evaluating violence prevention programs, and operates an “Information House” to synthesize and organize violence-related literature into a number of publicly accessible online databases. Individuals can then customize a search for violence prevention programs and related books, academic journal articles, professional reports, media and instruction manuals, and surveys to aid the measurement of violence. Currently, the group works toward development of an additional database that will allow users to search for intervention programs specifically useful for youth of different genders and various ethnicities.