Violence-Informed Approaches to Preventing Criminalisation in the UK Evidence, Research, Policy, Practice, and Emerging Thinking

By Stan Gilmour

This briefing paper examines the emerging framework of "violence informed approaches" as a critical development in understanding and responding to violence, particularly in the context of preventing criminalisation in the UK. Traditional approaches to violence prevention have often focused on individualised explanations, frequently obscuring the broader social, political, and economic contexts in which violence occurs. Whilst trauma-informed approaches have gained significant traction, they have been critiqued for sometimes inadvertently pathologising  individuals and focusing on psychological impacts rather than addressing structural causes. Violence-informed approaches build upon and extend these frameworks by offering a more explicitly political and contextual analysis of violence and its social determinants. This briefing draws on the foundational work of Professor Stan Gilmour (2025) on violence-informed approaches to preventing criminalisation¹⁶, integrating this with current evidence, research, policy, and practice in the UK to outline the theoretical underpinnings, key characteristics, and practical applications of this emerging framework.  

Milton Keynes, UK: Oxon Advisory, 2025. 14p.