In secondary prevention, work is done with already identified and vulnerable groups of people to ensure that they receive support in their usually difficult life situations in order to prevent or mitigate problematic actions. Particular focus is placed here on young people who have already been convicted of politically motivated acts or persons with an affinity for violence.
For Michaela Glaser, who works in research on educational approaches to extremism prevention, prevention is an intervention in the lives of those affected. For this reason, she argues, this form of education needs special justification and legitimation. She sees prevention as problematic if, when implementing it, no sufficiently sharp dividing line is drawn between forms of expression of political social criticism that are legally protected by the constitution and statements that are hostile to human beings or the constitution.