Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice

In 2021, Salzburg Global Seminar began implementing a major multi-year initiative—Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice—to tackle youth violence and promote youth safety and criminal justice reform.

When the culture of justice shifts away from a focus on safety, retribution, and systems of incarceration to consider models that focus on human dignity, youth violence prevention can be more effective.

Public health approaches treat violence like a health crisis, using scientific evidence to identify what causes violence and what interventions can stop it from spreading, and bringing together different organizations and professions to support youth and address the causes of violence holistically.

Strong evidence bases are the foundation for communicating to policymakers and the public and identifying the most promising interventions. However, choosing the correct metrics, integrating and analyzing the data and presenting it to policymakers and the public all present challenges.

Effective public communications around youth violence interventions and criminal justice reform are critical at every stage—from convincing policymakers and the community that reform is necessary to unlocking the requisite capital to avoiding spin and protecting reforms from being portrayed as “soft on crime”.

Securing youth psychological and physical well-being, as well as inclusion in their communities can successfully contribute to the reduction of violence—outside traditional justice institutions.

The Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative has drawn out promising interventions across countries and challenges—but there remain many avenues for future development.