Cardiff Model

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, over 50% of violent crime is unreported to law enforcement, which results in communities having an unclear picture of where violence occurs and a limited understanding on how to accurately target interventions for areas of increased violence. In 1996 a surgeon and professor working at Cardiff University in Wales, United Kingdom, Dr. Jonathan Shepherd, treated violent injuries in the emergency department and recognized that many of these injuries were not reported to law enforcement. Dr. Shepherd formed a partnership between hospitals, law enforcement, and other key community stakeholders to discuss data sharing and how they could work together to develop community violence prevention interventions in areas where increased violence was identified. Four years after implementation, it was clear that the Cardiff Model was an effective and cost-saving approach to prevent violence, as evidenced by the following:

  • 42% decrease in violent injury hospital admissions,
  • 32% decrease in police-recorded injuries relative to other nearby cities,
  • $32 saved in criminal justice and health system costs for every $1 dollar spent.

The Cardiff Model helps to identify areas of increased violence has been found to be an effective and cost-saving approach to reducing injuries and deaths from violence.  A key component of Cardiff Model work is the formation of a partnership collaboration among law enforcement, hospitals, health departments, and other community organizations invested in the prevention of interpersonal violence. This community partnership works together to identify previously undetected areas of violence by combining and mapping anonymous hospital screening information and law enforcement police report data.  The partnership uses the combined data to develop tailored evidence-based community violence prevention intervention strategies. More information about the Cardiff Model can be found in the Cardiff Model Toolkit on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.

Georgia DPH is currently working to support Cardiff Model work being done within a community partnership in the metro Atlanta area. For more information about the Cardiff Model, see Resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention below.

Resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Cardiff Model Toolkit

Cardiff Model Journal Articles

For additional questions about the Cardiff Model, contact:

Elizabeth N. Head, MPH
Deputy Director, Injury Prevention Program
[email protected]

 

Source: Unless otherwise noted above, the source for information on this page is Mercer Kollar, L.M., Jacoby, S.F., Ridgeway, G., Sumner, S.A. Cardiff Model Toolkit: Community Guidance for Violence Prevention. Atlanta, GA: Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017.

Page last updated: 12/05/2022