Browsing by Author "Hemenway, David ; Solnick, Sara J."
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Item Children and unintentional firearm death(Injury Epidemiology, 2015) Hemenway, David ; Solnick, Sara J.Background: Children in the United States are at far greater risk of unintentional gun death than children in other developed countries. The relative figures may even be worse since the estimates for US child unintentional gun deaths are derived from the Vital Statistics which have been shown to be underestimates. No study has used a national data system to investigate the circumstances of fatal child gun accidents. Methods: We use data from the National Violent Death Reporting System for 16 states from 2005 to 2012. We examine the cases of unintentional gun death involving children in five age groups, 0–1, 2–4, 5–10, 11–12, and 13–14, where the child was either the victim or shooter. Results: We estimate that there were 110 unintentional firearm deaths to children 0–14 annually in the U.S. during this 8 year time period, 80 % higher than reported by the Vital Statistics. The victims were predominantly male (81 %). Approximately two thirds of the shootings were other-inflicted, and in 97 % of those cases the shooter was a male. The typical shooter in other-inflicted shootings is a brother or friend. Indeed, children aged 11–14 are often shot in the home of friends. The large majority of children are shot by other children or by themselves. It is rare for a child accidentally to be shot by or accidentally to shoot an adult who is not a family member. Conclusions: Our study highlights the fact that unintentional firearm death to children is a problem of children shooting children and thus the importance of keeping guns away from children, their siblings, and their friends. (Author Abstract)Item The epidemiology of homicide perpetration by children.(Injury Prevention, 2017) Hemenway, David ; Solnick, Sara J.Background: The United States has by far the highest rates of homicide perpetration among high-income countries. The perpetration of homicide by children is often newsworthy, but little is known about the incidence or the circumstances of child homicide perpetration. Methods: We use data from the sixteen states reporting to the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) for all years 2005–2012. We read every violent death report that was classified a homicide with a child suspect (aged 0–14). To help ensure that we did not miss any homicide cases we also read those classified as an other-inflicted unintentional firearm injury death with a child shooter, to determine if they were actually homicides. Results: There were 154 child suspects, which corresponds to an average annual rate of 1.2 child perpetrators per million child population. We estimate for the United States as a whole, 74 children per year were homicide perpetrators. Nearly 90% were boys, 79% were aged 13–14, and another 13% were aged 11–12. We created five categories, which accounted for over 70% of events with sufficient information to determine what happened: (1) The caretaker, a juvenile, typically an older brother, is given the responsibility to care for an infant. The homicide usually occurs in a residence, and blunt force is used (no guns); (2) Killing an adult family member, typically a parent or grandparent. These cases usually occur in a residence, and the child uses either a gun or a knife; (3) Impulsive shooting during play, the child typically shoots a sibling or friend. Except for some notion of momentary anger, these cases look much like unintentional firearm fatalities; (4) Robbery, a group of youth are trying to steal money, usually from an adult; and (5) Group Assault, a group of youth are fighting, usually other youth. Conclusions: Child homicide perpetrators are typically boys who use guns, and the events can be classified into a small number of relevant categories. Such a categorization of events is useful for understanding the problem and determining solutions. (Author Abstract)