Investigators And Their Projects » Areas of Expertise:
Experts on Violence:
Investigator names link to complete details.
Jeffrey A. Fagan, Ph.D.Expertise:
Violence | Social Contagion of Adolescent Violence
Award Year: 2001 Show AbstractWhile the 1985-1998 epidemic of adolescent violence in U.S. cities has generated intense scholarly and policy interest, spatial and temporal diffusion of the epidemic have been largely overlooked. This project will explore whether current models of infectious disease epidemics can be adapted to explain the spread of youthful violence - particularly its onset, spread, peak, recession and cessation. It will also examine the resilience of some neighborhoods to epidemics of violence, despite social similarities to "infected" communities. Dr. Fagan will construct a conceptual model integrating elements of disease and injury epidemiology with sociological theories of diffusion and contagion. He will apply the model to data on violence morbidity and mortality derived from New York City's 2,220 census tracts. He also will integrate data from life history interviews with young men involved in interpersonal violence to construct a model of social interaction that illustrates the mechanisms of transmission. The project hopes to identify and help resolve competing perspectives on the control of social epidemics as well as leading to more sophisticated strategies for addressing them. |
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David Hemenway, Ph.D.Expertise:
Health Risks; Public Health Strategies; Violence | Firearms and Public Health
Award Year: 1997Show Abstract Firearms are the second leading cause of injury-related death in the U.S. While attention to the problem has increased, the amount of research on the topic lags behind. This project provides new information about gun carrying, storage, brandishing, injuries, the use of guns in self-defense, and the connection between guns and suicide. It also synthesizes new public health literature relevant to firearms policy and analyzes private firearm surveys from college students and adults. Adopting a general public health framework, Dr. Hemenway develops beneficial and feasible firearm policy recommendations, seeking to alter the current social norm which accepts high levels of lethal violence as a part of American life. Findings will provide public health-oriented policy options for gun safety, firearm product oversight, collecting gun injury information, and the roles of the medical community and general public in firearm safety. |
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Martin Sanchez-Jankowski, Ph.D.Expertise:
Violence | Inter-Ethnic Violence in Inner-City Schools: An Anaylsis of Its Causes and Consequences as Well as Public Health & Law Enforcement Approaches to Reduce It
Award Year: 1999Show Abstract Violence among Mexican Americans and African Americans in California inner-city schools has risen in recent years, causing death, injury, destruction of property, and loss of educational time. The project's objectives are to: 1) understand the conditions that precipitate and maintain this violence; 2) identify how it has physically and psychologically affected those who've experienced it; and 3) assess the public health and law enforcement policy approaches for controlling it. Dr. Sanchez-Jankowski relies on intensive fieldwork, using participant observation and in-depth interviewing methods. In analyzing the effectiveness of public health and law enforcement approaches to combating violence, he identifies what aspects of these policies need to be strengthened, changed or eliminated. Results provide health care professionals and policymakers with information about the physical and psychological injuries caused by inter-ethnic violence; the resources that would assist those directly impacted by this violence; and policy initiatives with the best probability for reducing violence. |
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