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, 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.