PRECISE: Prevention through Referral, Compensation, and Integrating Structural Equity in Hospital-Based Violence Intervention

In 2018, the University of Chicago established the only Level I Trauma Center on Chicago’s South Side and implemented a hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP) that provides patients 18 years and older with wraparound care for recovery from traumatic injuries. However, many patients younger than 18 years old are not eligible for the program, which currently does not maintain a systematic database of youth resources, including mentorship programs, academic support, peer-group interactions, and targeted support for family members, particularly at-risk siblings. Moreover, while HVIPs have demonstrated success in reducing violence and recidivism through case management and referrals to health care and other community services, they seldom include components to address the structural and root causes of violence.

To address these gaps, promote the civil rights of at-risk youth, and protect the public from ongoing propagation of violence on the South Side of Chicago, the University of Chicago School of Medicine proposes a community violence intervention (CVI) that involves expanding their HVIP program to close the “youth gap” and integrate novel structural equity components. They plan to create a novel hospital-based Trauma Survivors’ Legal Clinic in collaboration with the University of Chicago School of Law. Crime victim compensation and other legal supports have been shown to help rectify some of the legal, financial, and resource disparities faced by survivors of violence. They also plan to create a hospital-based, patient-family navigation service to provide direct linkages to existing, evidence-based wraparound resources inside and outside the University of Chicago system. Additionally, the project design includes direct financial assessment and advising at the point of care.