The Dynamic Nature of Crime Statistics

Barnett-Ryan, Cynthia; Griffith, Emily H.

doi:10.1002/9781118303092.ch1

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…With respect to strengths, by using comprehensive state data, our study captures the health care burden due to assault in the state and was able to examine differences by demographics, means, and place. In addition, the use of health care utilization data to assess trends in violence overcomes limitations of crime or victimization survey data, such as shifting trends in police activities or incident reporting by victims (Barnett-Ryan & Griffith, 2016). Thus, these findings are important not only for quantifying assault-related health care utilization over time but also for tracking changes in rates of assault that may be occurring in society more broadly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonfatal Assault Injury Trends in California, 2005 to 2015

Rowe

Matthay

Ahern

2019

J Interpers Violence

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Interpersonal violence is a major global public health problem, and the burden of nonfatal assault injuries is far greater than that of homicides. To understand trends and inform prevention priorities, we sought to describe nonfatal assault injury trends across demographic groups from 2005 to 2015 in California, USA. Comprehensive hospitalization and emergency department discharge records were used to estimate annual rates of nonfatal assault injury overall and by means and age group and age-standardized annual rates by race/ethnicity, gender, and county. The overall rate of assault injury was stable in California from 2005 to 2015 (mean = 364 per 100,000), but there was substantial heterogeneity across demographic groups, including increases among African Americans (900 to 1,194), American Indian/Alaskan Natives (423 to 572), older individuals (age 25-29 = 697 to 727; 30-39 = 495 to 557; 40-49 = 352 to 404; 50-59 = 194 to 313; 60+ = 66 to 106), and women (199 to 252). Assault injury rates increased among several demographic groups, warranting the attention of professionals involved in violence prevention efforts. Epidemiologic examination to better understand causes of increases can inform prevention efforts. Similar analyses should be applied to other settings to determine how broadly these patterns are observed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonfatal Assault Injury Trends in California, 2005 to 2015

Rowe

Matthay

Ahern

2019

J Interpers Violence

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“…Crime data can capture incidents not resulting in hospital visits or deaths, but may contain patterns that are artefacts of inconsistent reporting practices between jurisdictions and over time. 39,40 Victimization surveys are also available, and capture perceptions of violence, but only include those who have not died from self-harm. Surveys may also introduce same-source bias, in which error in self-report of both community violence and self-harm may be associated, for example due to respondent temperament.…”

Section: Extended Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Within-community Variation in Violence and Risk of Self-harm in California

Matthay

Rudolph²,

Goin³

et al. 2019

Epidemiology

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Self-harm is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States (US), accounting for over 44,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries in 2015. 1 Rates of self-harm are also increasing, 1 for some groups rapidly, 2 but the reasons for these increases are not well-understood. The influence of social environments on self-harm has been recognized for over a century, 3 but research to identify which features of the social environment are most influential is limited.Community violence-defined as experiencing, witnessing, or hearing about violence in one's community-is one potentially modifiable feature of the social environment that may influence selfharm. However, few studies have examined the association of community violence with self-harm, [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] and to our knowledge, no research has examined short-term, within-community variation in violence, as opposed to chronic or overall levels of violence.Within-community variation in violence is directly relevant to common models of self-harm. The stressdiathesis model and its variants posit that incidents of self-harm are the confluence of long-term predisposition to self-harm (e.g., due to early life adversity) with stressful life events (e.g., loss of a loved one or psychosocial crisis) that trigger brief periods of elevated risk. 12 Increases in community violencefor example, having neighbors who were victims of a recent shooting-may trigger self-harm in a vulnerable individual. The effects of community violence on self-harm may also vary for different demographic subgroups, because self-harm is a heterogeneous condition with different drivers and manifestations. 1,13,14 Existing models of self-harm support the hypothesis that within-variation in violence may be associated with self-harm for some groups but not others, due to differences in vulnerability to stressors or in levels of predisposing risk factors.We examined whether within-community variation in community violence is associated with fatal and nonfatal self-harm. To maximize control of individual and community confounders, we utilized a casecrossover approach with community-matched controls drawn in close time proximity to cases. We leveraged data from statewide population-based registries, surveys, and healthcare utilization data from California, a large and heterogeneous state with self-harm trends similar to those seen nationwide. Extended methods Overall study designs and data sourcesWe conducted a case-crossover study, 17 comparing cases' exposure at a time relevant to case occurrence to exposure at referent non-case times. We compiled data on self-harm and community violence for 2005-2013 from mortality, emergency department, and inpatient hospitalization discharge records from the California Office of Vital Records and the Office Statewide Health Planning and Development. Records included all deaths and hospital visits statewide, excluding active duty military hospitals, and captured medical information including external cause of death or injury, demographic characteristics, and...

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“…48 Crime data may also be used to measure community violence, but differences in reporting practices between jurisdictions and over time may introduce bias. 49,50…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%