In 2004, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office launched Understanding Violence, a reality-based curriculum teaching the importance of education and direction in keeping teens and young adults away from gangs and violence. Ten years later, in partnership with UMass Boston, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, and the City of Boston, the program was updated and modernized with a new name and a new goal: Overcoming Violence.

Overcoming Violence includes video interviews with criminal justice professionals, survivors of violent crime, incarcerated offenders, and others to show the long-term consequences of positive and negative choices, and an educational component facilitates discussion on strategies for success aimed directly at today’s youth. To learn more about Overcoming Violence, please fill out the form below or contact our community relations department at SuffolkCommRelations@Massmail.state.ma.us.