Rutgers–Camden Research Shows Impact of Gun Violence on Health and Well-Being of Neighborhoods
Criminal Justice professors received $277,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to explore environmental neighborhood risks that may perpetuate gun violence
Gun violence is tied to poverty, unemployment, broken families, disengaged youth and racial segregation, according to a study by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers.
Published in the Journal of Urban Health, the study found that people living in disadvantaged communities face gun violence at higher levels that are harmful to the health and well-being of whole neighborhoods.
“Many of America’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods are stuck in a vicious cycle of violence and collateral damage that is almost impossible to escape,” said lead author Daniel Semenza, director of interpersonal research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and assistant professor in the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health and in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Camden. “Directly addressing gun violence can be a key means of reducing health inequalities where people are suffering the most.”
In the study, researchers examined close to 16,000 neighborhoods in 100 cities in the United States from 2014 to 2019.
The researchers measured shootings and neighborhood health using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over a six-year period. The health outcomes included mental and physical health as well as health behaviors throughout the community including smoking cigarettes, participation in physical activity or exercise and amount of sleep.
They outlined a series of evidenced-based solutions to reduce gun-related violence, including policing initiatives, community-based street outreach programs, community environment improvement and addressing poverty and residential segregation. Long-term investments are paramount for reducing firearm-related violence and improving health in disadvantaged communities.
Semenza said reducing shootings in disadvantaged communities is integral to addressing broader disparities in health throughout the nation. Estimates from previous research indicate that firearm violence costs Americans more than $550 billion annually, including losses related to quality of life.
“We have accepted too much violence in too many communities for far too long,” said Semenza. “We are seeing the impact it has on many aspects of well-being. The longer we choose to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the problem, the more damage will be done to Americans all over the nation.”
“Many of America’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods are stuck in a vicious cycle of violence and collateral damage that is almost impossible to escape,”
“Any serious effort to improve community well-being must focus on gun violence reduction and prevention—and those efforts must extend beyond the direct victims of gun violence.”
Semenza and his co-investigator, Associate Professor Richard Stansfield were awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation for their exploration of environmental and neighborhood dynamics. Their research found that local socioeconomic conditions can predict occurrences of gun violence and community well-being.
“We show that high levels of poverty, unemployment, and especially youth disengagement are correlated with crime and violence,” Semenza said. “All this concentrated disadvantage creates perpetuating cycles of crime and violence, including gun homicides and non-fatal shootings.”
The data collected during the study shows that as gun violence increased over time, overall neighborhood health and well-being worsened.
“Shootings impact the families, friends, colleagues, and members of community-based organization working to prevent gun violence,” Stansfield said. “Any serious effort to improve community well-being must focus on gun violence reduction and prevention—and those efforts must extend beyond the direct victims of gun violence.”
Semenza and Stansfield believe that the uniquely high rate of gun violence in the United States links to extraordinary human and financial consequences. Their study unequivocally shows that the implementation of evidence-based policies and programming can effectively lower shooting rates and reduce high rates of concentrated disadvantage.
“A failure to act will have enduring consequences for years to come as gun violence continues to destroy individual lives and whole communities,” Semenza said.
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