NCJ Number
198513
Journal
Pfizer Journal Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: 2001 Pages: 25-27
Editor(s)
Salvatore J. Giorgianni
Date Published
2001
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article identifies the wide range of costs that are due to violence.
Abstract
Whether people are victims, witnesses, or perpetrators of violence, the physical, psychological and economic consequences are enormous and often uncalculated by policymakers. The psychological costs for victims of violence are significant. Many victims and witnesses struggle with fear, as they cope with disabilities caused by violence or struggle against anxiety and depression. Violence creates annual financial costs associated with medical and mental health treatment, emergency response, productivity losses, and health insurance and disability payments for the victims. In the United States alone, these costs are estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. In every health care setting in the world, professionals treat the victims of abuse and neglect, homicide and suicide attempts, war and ethnic conflict, torture, female genital mutilation, and violence related to alcohol and drug abuse. Violence affects economies in a number of ways; significantly lower economic growth results from foregone investment and reduced tourism, reduced productivity, costs of incarceration and justice, and higher medical expenses. Given the broad and expensive costs of violence, it makes sense to invest in prevention.