threat assessment: Thoughtful black student holding snack outdoors

Opinion: The Risks of Threat Assessment to Students Are Dire

By |

In the wake of highly publicized and tragic mass shootings at schools, jurisdictions across the country have responded with a flood of expanded school security policies. While much of this policymaking has echoed previous measures, like school hardening, surveillance and policing, some policymakers have focused on preventing targeted violence (where an attacker selects a particular target in advance) by identifying potentially violent actors and intervening to stop them before a violent act occurs. They label this threat assessment. 

Chicago: silhouette of two friends sitting on the roof at sunset

Opinion: Effects of Gun Violence Can Be Reduced in Youth, Chicago Program Shows

By |

Concentrated gun violence results in lost population and economic power, increases trauma throughout communities and depresses school outcomes among students exposed to violence. Interventions deliberately designed to empower youth who are frequently exposed to community trauma are an important tool to break the cycle of violence that repeats far too frequently. 

VOCA: Shape of Gun over detail of U.S. Dollar Bill, money

Opinion: Gun Violence Work Could Use Billions of Dollars in Victim Assistance Funds

By |

Gun violence in the United States has rapidly become a problem that has touched the lives of millions of people. Whether directly or indirectly, research shows that over 1.2 million people have been shot in the past decade, millions have witnessed gun violence firsthand and hundreds of millions of people will know at least one victim of gun violence in their lifetime.

doctors: surgeon team of 5

Opinion: Doctors Banding Together to Fight Gun Violence

By |

The lights are somehow brighter at 2 a.m., fluorescent and imposing, shining directly onto the hard white table in the center of the room. The paramedics wheel in a gurney with a lifeless body, blood-stained clothes and the face of a boy. The words that follow are too familiar, ”16-year-old male, no known past medical, GSW to the abdomen and right lower extremity …” The boy is transferred to the trauma table and the battle for another life begins.

hospital: Man talks to 3 other people around table

How Hospitals Are Helping to Reduce Gun Violence

By |

As a doctor in an emergency department that only sees children, I have the unfortunate experience of witnessing the impact of violence on our youngest members of society. Getting through adolescence is difficult enough, but for teens exposed to violence the transition to adulthood can be disrupted and even more difficult.