As the nation struggles to understand gun violence in our schools and communities, the National Academies offers a range of resources that examine lethal violence and approaches to preventing it: a research agenda for firearm-related violence, a collection of case studies examining lethal school violence, and summaries of workshops that explored community violence as a public health issue, violence prevention, and the social and economic costs of violence.
Deadly Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Violence
The shooting at Columbine High School riveted national attention on violence in the nation’s schools. This dramatic example signaled an implicit and growing fear that these events would continue to occur—and even escalate in scale and severity.
How do we make sense of the tragedy of a …
Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence
In 2010, more than 105,000 people were injured or killed in the United States as the result of a firearm-related incident. Recent, highly publicized, tragic mass shootings in Newtown, CT; Aurora, CO; Oak Creek, WI; and Tucson, AZ, have sharpened the American public’s interest in protecting our …
Community Violence as a Population Health Issue: Proceedings of a Workshop
On June 16, 2016, the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement held a workshop at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Brooklyn, New York, to explore the influence of trauma and violence on communities. The workshop highlighted examples of community-based organizations using …
Means of Violence: Workshop in Brief
In an average day, there are approximately 4,000 violent deaths across the globe. In 1 week, there are 26,000 and in 1 month, 120,000. Workshop speaker James Mercy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlighted that these figures are directly influenced by the means and methods …
Contagion of Violence: Workshop Summary
The past 25 years have seen a major paradigm shift in the field of violence prevention, from the assumption that violence is inevitable to the recognition that violence is preventable. Part of this shift has occurred in thinking about why violence occurs, and where intervention points might lie. …
Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review
For years proposals for gun control and the ownership of firearms have been among the most contentious issues in American politics. For public authorities to make reasonable decisions on these matters, they must take into account facts about the relationship between guns and violence as well as …
The Evidence for Violence Prevention Across the Lifespan and Around the World: Workshop Summary
The Evidence for Violence Prevention Across the Lifespan and Around the World is the summary of a workshop convened in January 2013 by the Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Global Violence Prevention to explore value and application of the evidence for violence prevention across the …
Social and Economic Costs of Violence: Workshop Summary
Measuring the social and economic costs of violence can be difficult, and most estimates only consider direct economic effects, such as productivity loss or the use of health care services. Communities and societies feel the effects of violence through loss of social cohesion, financial …
