Programs & Resources · Political Violence
Political Violence
The rise in political violence not only has a personal impact on the targeted individual, but also disrupts democratic processes and chills the desire of others to participate in government and civic duties. It is important that prosecutors recognize their responsibility to address this new level of violence in their community, while also facing threats and acts against them and their families.
APA’s work on political violence
Political violence touches many of the people who keep public institutions running, from elected officials to the public servants who administer democratic processes. APA supports prosecutors in this space through research, model policies, partner resources, and peer collaboration, and continues to build out guidance as the landscape changes.
APA, in partnership with the Joyce Foundation, brought together a bipartisan group of prosecutors, federal partners, and national experts in political violence. The goal of this meeting was to develop effective prosecutorial strategies for state and local prosecutors to address political violence in their jurisdictions, and to consider new recommendations for their federal partners to do the same. During this roundtable, participants shared both personal and jurisdictional struggles against extremism and strategies for holding violent actors accountable.
Following the meeting, APA published the report Prosecutors and Politics: Collaborative Strategies and Model Policies for Addressing Threats and Acts of Political Violence that contains model policies and collaborative strategies to confront and mitigate political violence. Through these recommendations, APA and the Joyce Foundation hope to provide insight into the various methods of addressing political violence and the protection of elected officials and other public servants through monitoring, collaboration, and training. APA seeks to expand on this work by establishing additional resources and guidance for prosecutors in their efforts to address threats and acts of political violence.
Featured report
APA & the Joyce Foundation
Prosecutors and Politics
Collaborative Strategies and Model Policies for Addressing Threats and Acts of Political Violence.
Monitoring
Methods for recognizing and tracking threats against elected officials and other public servants.
Collaboration
Strategies developed with federal partners and national experts for holding violent actors accountable.
Training
Model policies state and local offices can adapt to their own jurisdictions.
Beyond the report: partner resources
Election administration is one area where this work overlaps closely with the roles of officials, their counsel, and poll workers. APA points to partner-published guidance from the Brennan Center for Justice, the Government Counsel and Election Official Network, and the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections—state-specific handbooks on election interference law, quick reference guides, and overviews of the guardrails governing observers and poll workers.
Related from APA
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APA membership connects you to a national network of prosecutors, exclusive trainings, and collaborative opportunities—including the bipartisan work behind APA’s political violence recommendations.