NCJ Number
168115
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 24 Issue: 5 Dated: (1996) Pages: 379-391
Date Published
1996
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article examines the public health implications of the increasing numbers of victims of violent crime.
Abstract
The fast growing population of violent crime victims is filled with people who are physically disabled due to serious wounds sustained during criminal episodes of random violence. The ranks of this population seem to be the cities' poor, disproportionately represented by minorities (African Americans), who pose a serious threat to an already weakened health care system. This article contains four parts: a theoretical explanation for crime in urban areas; traumatic spinal cord injuries and violence, including challenges of rehabilitating paralyzed crime victims and the costs of treating spinal cord injuries; a discussion of whether random violence is a public health or criminal justice issue; and community strategies to prevent violence, including community policing, school prevention, controlling guns, and creating a comprehensive family policy. The article contends that the criminal justice and public health approaches are not mutually exclusive; the two approaches offer a unique and comprehensive way of examining and preventing violence. References