Firearm Injury from Crime

U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings

April 1996, NCJ-160093 Firearms, crime, and criminal justice Firearm Injury from Crime

By Marianne W. Zawitz BJS Statistician Highlights What information is available about firearm injury from crime? Of the victims of nonfatal violent to an emergency room were subse- crime who faced an assailant armed quently hospitalized. page 2 Firearm injuries caused by crime in- with a firearm, 3% suffered gunshot Over half of the victims of nonfatal clude those caused by interpersonal wounds. page 1 gunshot wounds from crime who violence regardless of whether or not Over half of all nonfatal firearm- were treated in emergency depart- the victim was the intended target. related injuries treated in emergency ments were black males; a quarter Such injuries can be fatal (homicides) departments were known to have re- were black males age 15-24. page 3 or nonfatal (assaults). As discussed sulted from an assault. page 2 While the majority of victims of in- on page 6, firearm homicide data from An estimated 57,500 nonfatal gun- tentional gunshot wounds were black, several good sources have been avail- shot wounds from assaults were most victims of unintentional firearm able for many years. Little data on treated in hospital emergency depart- injury and suicide attempts with fire- nonfatal firearm injuries caused by ments from June 1992 through May arms were white. page 3 crime were available until recently. 1993. page 2 For 12% of the victims of nonfatal While many jurisdictions have laws Of those victims who received non- gunshot wounds from crime, the term mandating the reporting of gunshot fatal gunshot wounds from crime and "drive-by" was used to describe the wounds to law enforcement, there is were treated in an emergency room, assault. page 4 no national registry of such injuries. 65% arrived by emergency medical The firearm injury rate for police of- service, rescue squad, or ambulance. ficers declined in the early 1980s and To understand firearm injury better, the page 2 began climbing again after 1987, but Centers for Disease Control and Pre- Almost half of the victims of nonfa- has not exceeded the peak reached vention (CDC) initiated the Firearms tal gunshot wounds from crime were in 1980-81. page 4 Injury Surveillance Study in June 1992. shot in an arm, hand, leg, or foot. This report is the third in a series on firearms, As discussed on page 5, this study col- page 2 crime, and criminal justice. The first report in lects data about gun-related injuries About 60% of the victims of nonfa- the series, Guns Used in Crime (NCJ-148201, July 1995), includes definitions of commonly treated at hospital emergency depart- tal firearm injury from crime who went used firearm terms. ments through the Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Elec- tronic Injury Surveillance System. 29% of the victims of nonfatal violent According to the 1992 National Hos- crime, excluding simple assault, faced pital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, Firearm-related crime and resulting an offender armed with a gun. about 0.3% of all injury visits to injury is a relatively rare event An earlier analysis of NCVS data for emergency departments (3 of every 1987-92 found that of the victims of 1,000 visits) were caused by firearms. In 1994 the BJS National Crime Vic- nonfatal violent crime who faced an as- This estimate includes all causes of timization Survey (NCVS) found that sailant armed with a firearm, 3% suf- firearm injury and may also include vis- fered gunshot wounds. its for patients seeking follow-up care and patients who died at the hospital. How often are victims injured violence, most firearm-related deaths Webster and others analyzed all crime- as a result of crimes committed are self-inflicted. According to the Vital related gunshot wound cases that with firearms? Statistics, 37,776 firearm deaths oc- were admitted to a level I trauma unit curred in 1992; 48% were suicides, in Washington, D.C., from 1983 to According to an analysis of NCVS data and 47% homicides/legal interventions, 1990.* They found that the severity of for 1987-92, about 17% of the victims and 4% unintentional. gunshot wounds increased during the of nonfatal gun crimes were injured. study period. Increased mortality Of those injured, 61% received minor How did the victims of firearm in- among victims of gunshot wounds was injuries. Few of those injured in nonfa- jury from crime get to the hospital? a function of an increase in the per- tal gun crimes received injuries that re- centage of patients who suffered sulted from the discharge of a firearm; About two-thirds of the victims of gun- wounds to the head or thoracic regions about 19% of the victims injured in gun shot wounds from crime who were that included the vital organs. In addi- crimes suffered from gunshot wounds. treated in emergency departments tion, the increase in patient mortality The NCVS does not include victims were taken to the emergency depart- during the last 3 years of the study who died. ment by an emergency medical serv- was partially attributable to increases ice, ambulance, or rescue squad. in the proportion of patients with multi- Percent Percent of victims ple thoracic wounds. Overall, they of victims Mode of transport of gunshot wounds found that the proportion of patients Injured in gun crime 100 % to the hospital from crime Gunshot wound 19 with two or more gunshot wounds grew Serious injury 15 EMS/Rescue/Ambulance 65% from about 26% before 1987 to 43% Rape/Attempted rape 5 Private vehicle 19 from 1988 through 1990. Minor injury 61 Walk-in 6 Police 4 Most victims of intentional firearms Of the victims who suffered gunshot Unknown 4 injury treated in an emergency wounds, over 90% reported that they Air transport 2 room are subsequently hospitalized were treated at a hospital. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, The CDC data show that about 60% of June 1, 1992, through May 31, 1993. How many people are injured by the victims of nonfatal intentionally in- firearms and how many are the re- Victims of unintentional firearm injury flicted gunshot wounds (an estimated sult of crime? differ from other types of gunshot vic- 34,500) were hospitalized after their tims in that a higher percentage come initial treatment in an emergency room. The Centers for Disease Control and The remainder (40%) were released to hospital by private vehicle than any 2 Prevention (CDC) estimates that be- other means. after being treated or transferred. The tween June 1, 1992, and May 31, CDC firearms study did not follow 1993, about 99,000 nonfatal firearm- Where were victims of gunshot treatment after admission but did esti- related injuries were treated in U.S. assaults wounded? mate that about 92% of the victims hospital emergency departments. Of hospitalized for firearm injury were dis- these, an estimated 57,500 nonfatal Data from the CDC study of nonfatal charged from the hospital alive. gunshot wounds were known to have 1 firearm injury show that almost half of resulted from assaults. the victims shot as a result of an as- Data from the NCVS on nonfatal firearm crimes for 1987-92 showed that  sault received wounds to the extremi- Of the total firearm injuries ties (arms, hands, legs, or feet). Over over half of the victims of gunshot 58% resulted from assaults a third of these victims were shot in the wounds were hospitalized and of these 20% were unintentional trunk, and the remainder were shot in victims over half were hospitalized less 5% were suicide attempts the head or neck. than 1 week. 1% were legal interventions 16% were from unknown causes. By contrast, three-quarters of the vic- The analysis by Webster and others tims of unintentional gunshot wounds found that 28% of the admitted pa- CDC estimates that there were 3.3 were shot in the arms, legs, or feet, tients received some care in an inten- nonfatal firearms-related injuries from while two-thirds of the victims of sui- sive care unit. In 1990 the gunshot assault or legal intervention for every cide attempts were shot in the head or wound patients in intensive care spent firearm-related homicide. While most neck or upper trunk. an average of 2.2 days in the unit.* nonfatal firearm-related injuries are the result of intentional, interpersonal *A full citation for this source is at the end of this paper. 2 195% confidence interval estimates the number 95% confidence interval estimates the number to be between 33,800 to 81,000. See to be between 20,300 to 48,700. See Methodology. Methodology.

2 Firearm Injury from Crime Over half the victims of gunshot Who are the victims of gunshot wounds from crime? wounds from crime who were Percent of victims treated in hospital emergency of nonfatal gunshot departments were black males wounds from crime treated in hospital Victim emergency Percent of victims characteristic departments of nonfatal gunshot Sex Almost 9 of 10 victims were male wounds from crime Male 87% Female 13 Black male 52% White male* 15 Race and Hispanic male 13 ethnicity About 6 in 10 victims were black Black female 6 White* 19% White female* 4 Black 59 Other male 3 Hispanic 14 Hispanic female 1 Other 4 Other female 1 Unknown 5 Unknown 5 Age One quarter of the victims were under age 20 *Represents white, non-Hispanic. 0-14 3% Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance 15-19 22 About half of the victims were between Study, June 1, 1992, through May 31, 1993. 20-24 27 15 and 24 years old 25-29 17 Over a quarter of all the victims of in- 30-34 12 tentional gunshot wounds were black 35-39 10 males age 15 to 24. 40-44 5 45+ 6 While the majority of victims of inten- *Represents white, non-Hispanic. tional gunshot wounds were black, Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, most victims of unintentional firearm June 1, 1992, through May 31, 1993. injury and suicide attempts with firearms were white.

How do the victims of nonfatal gunshot wounds from crime compare to firearm homicide victims?

A comparison of two sources of fire- Firearm homicides arm homicide data to the CDC's data FBI's Supplementary Nonfatal firearm on nonfatal firearm injury from crime Victim 1992 Vital Homicide Reports, injury from crime, shows similar demographic patterns characteristics Statistics June 1992 -May 1993 June 1992 -May 1993 among victims. Black males are the Race and sex most frequent victims of firearm homi- White male 37% 35% 28% cide and nonfatal firearm injury from White female 9 9 5 crime. Young people are also more Black male 45 47 52 frequently victims in all three sources. Black female 6 7 6 Older victims are more frequent in the Other 2 2 4 homicide statistics since they are less Unknown * 1 5 able than younger victims to recover Age from gunshot wounds. 0-14 3% 2% 3% 15-19 16 16 22 Although these sources cover slightly 20-24 22 22 27 different periods and have different 25-29 17 17 17 population coverage (see page 5), 30-34 13 14 12 35-44 16 17 15 the homicide victims in the Vital Sta- 45+ 13 12 6 tistics and the FBI's Supplementary Unknown 1 Homicide Reports appear to be very *Less than 0.5% similar. Some of the differences be- For comparison, Hispanics who were included in the other racial category in the original data were included in the whites racial category. The homicide tween these sources and the firearm sources do not classify Hispanics as a racial category. injury study may be due to differ- Sources: 1992 Vital Statistics of the United States, Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention ences in population coverage or the National Center for Health Statistics; FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, Supplementary Homicide  estimation procedures used with the Reports, June 1992 May 1993; and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention, Firearms Injury Surveillance Study, June 1992  May 1993. firearm injury surveillance sample.

Firearm Injury from Crime 3 What were the circumstances offender was unknown. In 28% of the assault was $260,000. This figure in- surrounding the crimes that cases the perpetrator was a stranger cluded direct costs such as medical resulted in gunshot wounds? to the victim, and 10% of the victims costs as well as those costs because did not see who shot them. of lost productivity and pain, suffering, For most of the victims of nonfatal Percent of victims and reduced quality of life. Overall, of nonfatal gunshot wounds from crime in the Victim-offender gunshot wounds they estimated that firearm assault in- CDC study, little is known about the relationship from crime jury and death cost $63.4 billion in event or the type of weapon, because Relationship unknown 48% 1992. much of this information is unavailable Stranger 28 in hospital emergency departments. Did not see offender 10 Information about whether the injury Friend/acquaintance 8 How often are police officers in- resulted from another crime such as a All other 6 jured in assaults with firearms? robbery, from a physical fight, or from Source: Centers for Disease Control and a verbal argument was recorded for Prevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, In 1993, over 1,400 police officers less than a third of the cases. June 1, 1992 through May 31, 1993. were injured in firearm assaults and 67 police officers were killed by a For the victims of firearm homicide in- About 60% of the victims of gunshot firearm while responding to a crime. cluded in the Supplementary Homicide wounds for 1987-92 in the NCVS re- The firearm injury rate for police offi- Reports from June 1992 through May ported that they were victimized by cers declined in the early 1980s and 1993, 82% were killed with a handgun. strangers. Another quarter reported began climbing again after 1987. Of these firearm homicide victims  that they were victimized by an Rates in the 1990s have not ex- 29% were killed because of an acquaintance. ceeded the peak reached in argument 1980-81. 21% were killed during the commis- The relationship to the offender was Number of firearm injuries from sion of another crime including 11% unknown in 40% of the firearm homi- assault per 1,000 police officers during a robbery and 7% during a drug cides in the Supplementary Homicide 4 law violation Reports from June 1992 through May 6% died as a result of a juvenile 1993. In 44% of the homicides during 3 gang killing. the period, the killer was known to the  victim including 2 Where did the assaults that resulted 24% in which the victim and offender were friends or acquaintances in nonfatal gunshot wounds occur? 1 13% in which the killer was a relative The CDC study found that the location or intimate of the victim. 0 of the assault was  The killer was a stranger to the victim 1978 1980 1985 1990 1993 unknown by hospital staff in more in 15% of the homicides. than half the injuries Because fewer police officers are a street or highway in 18% What is the cost of injuries caused dying from gunshot wounds, the a home, apartment, or condominium by assaults with firearms? ratio of those injured to killed from in 16% assaults with firearms has been other property, including schools or Miller and Cohen estimated the aver- increasing. age cost per gunshot wound from all recreation areas, in 13%. For police officers who were shot, causes in 1992.* The estimates for ratio of those injuried to killed In 83% of the cases, the assault did medical costs, mental health care, 40 not occur when the victim was on the emergency transport, police services, and insurance administration were  job. In the text descriptions provided 30 by hospital staff, the term "drive-by" $21,700 per fatal gunshot wound was used to describe what happened $28,000 per gunshot wound requiring 20 to 12% of the victims of nonfatal gun- hospitalization shot injury from assaults. $6,500 per gunshot wound treated in the emergency department and re- 10 What was the relationship of injured leased without hospitalization. victims to their attackers? 0 They estimated that the total cost per 1978 1980 1985 1990 1993 In almost half of the cases in the CDC survivor of gunshot wounds caused by Source: FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, study, the victim's relationship to the 1978-93. *A full citation for this source is at the end of this paper.

4 Firearm Injury from Crime Over 44,000 violent State prison inmates in 1991 caused by any weapon that uses a reported that victims of their crimes had been shot powder charge to fire a projectile. Ad- and killed or injured ditional estimates on injury caused by BB guns or pellet guns and other inju- The Survey of Inmates in State Cor- Injury to the victim and the use of a ries that directly involve a gun including rectional Facilities found that of the firearm are both factors that can in- powder burns, pistol whipping, or recoil almost 328,000 State prison inmates crease the severity of the sentence injuries are included in the report cited serving time for a violent crime in given to violent criminals. For exam- above and in "BB and Pellet Gun- 1991, 30% were armed with a fire- ple, according to Federal Firearms- Related Injuries, United States, June arm when they committed the crime. related offenses, over a quarter of 1992, May 1994," Morbidity and Mor- Of those armed, 56% said that they the Federal offenders convicted of a tality Weekly Report, Centers for Dis- fired the gun and most of those who violent crime were given longer sen- ease Control and Prevention, Vol. 44, fired said their victims were shot and tences because of firearms No. 49, December 15, 1995, pp. either wounded or killed. involvement. 909-13.

Because the CDC data are a sample Are offenders more likely to be Methodology of firearm injuries that occur in U.S. victims of firearm injury? hospitals, the estimates that are de- CDC Firearms Injury Surveillance rived from the data are subject to sam-  Several studies reported findings about Study These data were compiled pling error. To measure the precision the gunshot wound history of criminals through the U.S. Consumer Product of national estimates obtained from the and criminal defendants: Safety Commission's (CPSC) National data, CDC estimated the generalized Preliminary findings from a National Electronic Injury Surveillance System standard errors for estimates of se- Institute of Justice study of over 4,000 (NEISS). The CPSC established lected sample size as follows: arrestees in 11 cities during the first 3 NEISS in 1972 to track product-related months of 1995 showed that 21% of injuries. NEISS collects data from 91 Relative the adult male arrestees and 11% of hospitals selected as a representative sampling Standard error in 95% Confi- the juvenile male arrestees had been sample of the approximately 6,000 Estimate error percent dence Interval injured by a gunshot at some time.* hospitals in the United States with May and others' study of 582 male emergency departments. The system 1,000 300 30% 412-1,588 detainees in the Cook County, Illinois includes very large inner-city hospitals 5,000 1,150 23% 2,746-7,254 jail, in 1994 found that 26% had sur- with trauma centers, as well as other 10,000 2,200 22% 5,688-14,312 vived gunshot wounds.* types of urban, suburban, and rural 25,000 5,300 21% 14,612-35,388 hospitals. Data from the 91 NEISS 50,000 10,600 21% 29,224-70,776 According to a BJS study of murder in hospitals are weighted to provide na- 75,000 15,800 21% 44,032-105,968 the 75 largest counties in 1988, 13% of tional estimates about injuries treated 99,000 21,800 22% 56,272-141,728 the victims killed with a firearm had a in U.S. hospital emergency prior criminal arrest and 7% a prior departments. conviction  a pattern similar to vic- The Bureau of Justice Statistics is also tims of homicide killed with other Through an agreement with CDC, using NEISS to collect information weapons.* NEISS was used to collect data on about both firearm and nonfirearm in- nonfatal gun-related injuries at all 91 tentional interpersonal injury. The BJS McGonigal and others' study of firearm hospitals beginning in June 1992. study collects data from 31 hospitals in deaths in Philadelphia in 1985 and NEISS personnel abstracted informa- the NEISS sample. The information 1990 found that two-thirds of the vic- tion from medical records on each on intentional firearm injury in the BJS tims killed in 1990 had a prior criminal case identified. Further information study comes from the CDC firearm in- history including 36% who had prior about the study can be found in Annest jury data. This report used the CDC firearms arrests.* and others, "National Estimates of data since it has a larger number of Nonfatal Firearm-Related Injuries: Be- firearm injury cases permitting more *A full citation for this source is at the end of this detailed analysis. paper. yond the Tip of the Iceberg," Journal of the American Medical Association, June 14, 1995. National Crime Victimization Survey  The National Crime Victimization Sur- The CDC data for June 1992 through vey (NCVS) is the Nation's primary May 1993 consists of 4,874 un- source of information on criminal vic- weighted cases. This report focuses timization. The survey provides a de- on the 3,302 unweighted cases that in- tailed picture of crime incidents, victims volved nonfatal gunshot wounds and trends occurring each year in the

Firearm Injury from Crime 5 United States. The survey collects in- Reports provide such detailed informa- Hindelang, Michael J., "The Uniform Crime Re- ports Revisited," Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. formation on the frequency and nature tion. However, not all agencies report 2, 1974, pp.1-17. of the crimes of rape, sexual assault, and not all reports are complete. In personal robbery, aggravated and sim- 1992, for example, the FBI estimated Rand, Michael R., "The Study of Homicide Case- flow: Creating a Comprehensive Homicide Data- ple assault, household burglary, theft that there were 23,760 murders in the set," paper presented to the annual meeting of the and motor vehicle theft utilizing a na- U.S. and provided Supplementary American Society of Criminology in New Orleans, tionally representative sample of ap- Homicide Reports on 22,540 murders. Louisiana, November 1992. proximately 49,000 households (about The homicide data from the Vital Sta- Rokaw, William M., James A. Mercy, and Jack C. 101,000 persons). tistics and the Uniform Crime Reports Smith, "Comparing Death Certificate Data with provide slightly different estimates of FBI Crime Reporting Statistics on U.S. Homi- 3 cides," Public Health Reports, Vol. 105, 1990, The survey provides information about the number of homicides annually. pp. 447-455 victims (age, sex, race, etc.), offenders Rokaw and others attributed this differ- (age, sex, race, etc.) and the crimes ence to differences in  Rosenberg, Mark L., M.D., M.P.P. and James A. Mercy, Ph.D., "Homicide: Epidemiologic Analysis (use of weapons, nature of injury, coverage of the U.S. population at the National Level," Bulletin of the New York etc.). Because firearm crime and re- practices or rules governing the re- Academy of Medicine, Vol. 62, No. 5, June 1986, sulting injury are relatively rare when porting of homicides to NCHS and the pp. 376-399. compared to all types of crime, there FBI were too few cases in any one year to criteria used in defining a case as a permit detailed analysis of gun crime homicide The Bureau of Justice Statistics is and gunshot injuries. It was therefore categories used and rules employed the statistical arm of the U.S. De- necessary to aggregate sample cases to classify people among demographic partment of Justice. Jan M. for 6 years, 1987-1992, to have a suffi- subgroups. Chaiken, Ph.D., is director. cient number of cases for analysis. The 6 year aggregate of firearm crimes The calendar year 1992 Vital Statistics BJS Selected Findings summarize consists of 2,011 unweighted cases. used here included 17,790 firearm statistics about a topic of current homicide and legal intervention deaths. concern from both BJS and non-  Firearm homicide data Firearm FBI Supplementary Homicide Data BJS datasets. homicide data come from two primary covering the same period as the CDC sources: Firearms Injury Surveillance Study Substantial assistance in preparing Vital Statistics of the United States, were provided by James Alan Fox, this report was provided by J. Lee which collects data from all death cer- Dean, College of Criminal Justice, Annest, Ph.D., Director of the Office tificates filed throughout the Nation Northeastern University. Reports on of Statistics and Programming, Na- Supplementary Homicide Reports, 15,610 murders involving a firearm tional Center for Injury Prevention which includes data reported to the were included. and Control, Centers for Disease Uniform Crime Reporting Program of Control and Prevention; James Alan the FBI by State and local law enforce- Other data  This report includes in- Fox, Dean, College of Criminal Jus- ment agencies on a voluntary basis. formation analyzed and published by tice, Northeastern University; and by others. Full citations for these sources Larry Greenfeld, Michael Rand, and The Vital Statistics information in- are included at the end. Some of the Patrick A. Langan of the BJS staff. cludes the demographic characteristics data presented are from single site and of firearm homicide victims and is multijurisdictional studies and are not Verification and publication review thought to be an accurate count of the representative of the Nation as a were provided by Rhonda Keith, number of such deaths. Firearm homi- whole. Tom Hester, Marilyn Marbrook, and cides include legal intervention deaths Yvonne Boston of the Bureau of 3 such as those caused by police offi- Additional information about the differences be- Justice Statistics. cers in pursuit of criminals. It does not tween the Vital Statistics and the Uniform Crime Reports estimates of homicide can be found in the contain information about the circum- following : April 1996, NCJ-160093 stances surrounding the death, the type of firearm used, or suspected of- Cantor, David and Lawrence E. Cohen, "Compar- ing Measures of Homicide Trends: Methodologi- fenders. The Supplementary Homicide cal and Substantive Differences in the Vital Statistics and the Uniform Crime Report Time Series (1933-1975)," Social Science Research, Vol. 9, 1980, pp.121-145.

6 Firearm Injury from Crime Sources Some of the data utilized in this re- Annest, J. Lee., Ph.D.; James A. Mercy, Ph.D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Na- port are available from the National tional Center for Injury Prevention, Firearms Injury Delinda R. Gibson, and George W. Ryan, Ph.D.,  Archive of Criminal Justice Data at "National Estimates of Nonfatal Firearm-Related Surveillance Study, June 1992 May 1993 Injuries: Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg," Journal the University of Michigan, FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, Crime in the U.S., of the American Medical Association, Vol. 273, 1-800-999-0960. 1992 No. 22, pp. 1749-54, June 14, 1995 FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, Law "BB and Pellet Gun-Related Injuries, United The data and the report, as well as Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, States, June 1992, May 1994," Morbidity and others from the Bureau of Justice 1978-93. Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Statistics, are available through the Control and Prevention, Vol. 44, No. 49, Decem- FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, Supplementary Internet  ber 15, 1995, pp. 909-13. Homicide Reports, June 1992  May 1993 http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ BJS, Federal Firearms- related offenses, Crime McGonigal, Michael D., MD, John Cole, BS, C. Data Brief, NCJ-148950, June 1995 William Schwab, MD, Donald R. Kauder, MD, Michael R. Rotondo, MD, and Peter B. Angood, BJS, Guns and Crime: Handgun Victimization, "Urban Firearm Deaths: A Five-year Perspec- This report is part of a series on Firearm Self-Defense, and Firearm Theft, tive," The Journal of Trauma, Vol. 35, No. 4, firearms and crime that will result in NCJ-147003, April 1994 October 1993, pp. 532-37. the publication of a comprehensive BJS, Guns Used in Crime: Firearms, Crime and May, John P., MD, Martha G. Ferguson, MPH, document entitled Firearms, Crime, Criminal Justice, Selected Findings, NCJ-148201, July 1995 Richard Ferguson, MS, and Karen Cronin, BA, and Criminal Justice. Other topics "Prior Nonfatal firearm Injuries in Detainees of a to be covered in this series include BJS, Murder in the 75 Largest Counties, 1988, Large Urban Jail," Journal of Health Care for the unpublished data Poor and Underserved, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1995 guns used in crime, how criminals obtain guns, and weapons offenses BJS, National Crime Victimization Survey, 1994, Miller, Ted R. and Mark A. Cohen, "Costs of and offenders. The full report will unpublished data Penetrating Injury," Textbook of Penetrating Trauma, Rao Ivatury and C. Gene Cayten, editors focus on the use of guns in crime, BJS, National Crime Victimization Survey, Fire- (Philadelphia: Lee and Civiga) 1995 trends in gun crime, consequences arm crime from 1987-92, unpublished data of gun crimes, and characteristics National Institute of Justice, "Arrestees and Guns: BJS, Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Monitoring the Illegal Firearms Market," Research of and sanctions for offenders who Facilities, 1991, unpublished data Preview, September 1995 use guns. This report will not cover the involvement of firearms in acci- BJS, Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991, Rokaw, William M., James A. Mercy, and Jack C. NCJ-136949, March 1993 Smith, "Comparing Death Certificate Data with dents or suicides. FBI Crime Reporting Statistics on U.S. Homi- Burt, Catherine W., Ed.D. "Injury Related Visits to cides," Public Health Reports, Vol. 105, pp. Hospital Emergency Departments: United States, 447-455 1992," Advance Data from the Vital and Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Pre- Webster, Daniel W. ScD, MPH, Howard R. Cham- vention, National Center for Health Statistics, No. pion, FRCS (Edin), Patricia S. Gainer, JD, MPA, 261, February 1, 1995 and Leon Sykes, MD, "Epidemiolgic Changes in Gunshot Wounds in Washington, D.C., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Na- 1983-1990," Archives of Surgery, Vol. 127, No. 6, tional Center for Health Statistics, Advance Re- pp. 694-698 port of Final Mortality Statistics, 1992, Monthly Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 43, No. 6, December 1994

Firearm Injury from Crime 7