It aims to stop the spread of violence in communities by using the methods and strategies associated with epidemic disease control: detecting and interrupting conflicts, identifying and treating the highest risk individuals, and changing social norms.

Cure Violence has its roots in a 1999 organizing effort which included religious leaders, law enforcement officials, and academics.

Cardinal Francis George and Police Superintendent Terry Hillard supported the effort and a formed a formal coalition at the end of that year.

Within these zones, participants agreed to a rapid response to shooting incidents to spread grassroots messages against gun violence, in addition to the traditional law enforcement investigation.

[18] Cure Violence now refers to the larger organization and overall health approach, while local program partner sites often operate under other names.

Additionally, they will keep in touch with their clients in order to gather information and help guide them towards more constructive activities, referred to as outreach work.

[22][29][30][26][31] They also try to employ interrupters who live in the area that they work in order to facilitate organic information gathering and obtain a natural path for approaching potential clients.

[35] The executive director of Cure Violence, Tio Hardiman, responded to this by stating that their workers do not actively discourage people from reporting or otherwise cooperating with police.

However, he did acknowledge that some tension exists when he told WBEZ that "[I]f the young guys that we work with feel that we're ... being informants, or whatever, there's a chance some of our staff will lose their lives.

[21] Cure Violence organizes community activities and distributes educational material, which they claim shifts the norms towards non-violence.

[38][39] When relevant, they might invite the people they are working with to the vigils under the belief that witnessing the effects of shootings will make them less likely to commit violence in the future.

[51][52] In June 2008 the state legislature approved a budget with an additional $6.25 million for CeaseFire,[53] but the governor indicated that he was still opposed to the funding[54] and eventually vetoed it.

The grant was intended to fund an expansion to two Chicago neighborhoods which had high levels of violence, and the police used their CompStat system to monitor results.

[63][64] CeaseFire intervened after Jermaine Louis' family asked them to help; they claimed that he was in danger of retaliatory violence and were not able to protect him (he was also considered a person of interest by the police).

[62] CeaseFire convinced him to cooperate with the police, which required undergoing questioning but not admitting guilt and allowed him to stay in a safe house.

[66] In May 2008, Professor Wesley G. Skogan, an expert on crime and policing at Northwestern University, completed a three-year, independent, Department of Justice-funded report on CeaseFire, which found that the program successfully reduced shootings and killings by 41% to 73%.

"Clients noted the importance of being able to reach their outreach worker at critical moments—when they were tempted to resume taking drugs, were involved in illegal activities, or when they felt that violence was imminent.

"[69] In an independent evaluation of the Cure Violence model at the Baltimore partner program site commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and conducted by Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore's Safe Streets program, the Cure Violence partner site, is credited with reducing shootings and killings by up to 34–56%.

[70] In 2010, the United States Department of Justice contracted with the Center for Court Innovation to evaluate the Cure Violence New York City program partner site, and found the gun violence rate in the program site to be 20% lower than what it would have been had its change mirrored the average change in comparison precincts.

[74] An evaluation of the program in Port of Spain, Trinidad, conducted by Arizona State University and funded by the Inter-American Development Bank found a 45% reduction in violent crime in the service area.

[7][8] Daniel Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, advocates for CeaseFire's approach to violent crime, believing the benefits of intercession are many.