Exposure to gun violence among the population of Chicago community violence interventionists

Gun violence is a leading cause of premature death and a driver of racial disparities in life expectancy in the United States. Community-based interventions are the foremost policy strategy for reducing gun violence without exacerbating harm associated with criminal justice approaches. However, litt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science advances 2022-12, Vol.8 (51), p.eabq7027-eabq7027
Main Authors: Hureau, David M, Wilson, Theodore, Jackl, Hilary M, Arthur, Jalon, Patterson, Christopher, Papachristos, Andrew V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Chicago - epidemiology
Crime Victims
Epidemiology
Female
Gun Violence
Humans
Male
SciAdv r-articles
Social and Interdisciplinary Sciences
Social Sciences
United States
Violence
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Summary:Gun violence is a leading cause of premature death and a driver of racial disparities in life expectancy in the United States. Community-based interventions are the foremost policy strategy for reducing gun violence without exacerbating harm associated with criminal justice approaches. However, little is known about the interventionist workforce. In 2021, we used a researcher-guided survey to obtain a near-census of Chicago violence interventionists (  = 181, 93% response rate). Workers were mostly male (84%) and Black (80.9%), with a mean age of 43.6 years. Interventionists commonly experienced work-related exposure to violence and direct victimization. A total of 59.4% witnessed someone being shot at, whereas 32.4% witnessed a victim struck by gunfire. During work hours, 19.6% were shot at, while 2.2% were nonfatally shot. Single-year rates of gun violence victimization exceeded those of Chicago police. Results suggest that investment in community violence intervention should prioritize improving worker safety and reducing violence exposure while developing support for vulnerable frontline practitioners.
ISSN:2375-2548
2375-2548
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.abq7027