Using both official and unofficial data sources, researchers examined nonfatal (n 5 617) and fatal shooting (n 5 159) victim characteristics over an 18-month period in Indianapolis. This research revealed that the typical shooting victim was male, non-White, almost 29 years old, had been arrested prior to inclusion in this study, and had been shot more than once. Interestingly, this research supports the notion that nonfatal shooting and homicide victims are different, especially as they relate to victim age, gunshot wound severity, and shooting motive. It highlights the need for better gun violence data collection beyond what currently exists. Striving for improved, more comprehensive cross-sector data collection has implications beyond just police policy and practice to include public health and prevention efforts.

Victims play a central role in criminal case processing, but research suggests many victims do not report crimes to police or cooperate in a police investigation. This study extends the literature on victim cooperation by examining the effect of incident-level variables and neighborhood characteristics on victim cooperation in nonfatal shooting incidents. The sample includes 1,054 nonfatal shooting victims from two Midwestern cities. Results using binary logistic regression suggest that incident and victim characteristics are significantly associated with cooperation, but race conditions the effect of injury severity and motive on cooperation. The willingness to cooperate among Whites is contingent on injury severity while non-White victims do not become markedly more cooperative when confronted with serious injury. Race also moderates the relationship between crime motive and cooperation. This work demonstrates the need to incorporate nonfatal firearm violence into studies of victim cooperation and gun crime more broadly.

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