Violent Death

Leah Andrews

Violent Death - “a death resulting from the intentional use of physical force or power against oneself, another person, or against a group or community,”

-World Health Organization (WHO)

Types of Violent Death

1. Suicide

2. Homicide

3. Accidents

National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)

Collects data on violent deaths in participating US states and centralizes it to provide a more comprehensive picture

• Currently in 19 US states• Suicides, homicides, deaths of undetermined

intent, deaths by legal intervention, and accidental firearms deaths

• Helps guide local decisions toward efforts to prevent violence and track their progress over time

NVDRS

• Collects facts from four major sources about the same incident and pools all information into a usable, anonymous database. (Can include one or multiple victims)– Death certificates– Coroner/medical reports– Law enforcement reports– Crime labs

NVDRS

• Facts collected about violent death include:

– Circumstances related to suicide (depression, relationship and/or financial problems, other life stresses)

– Relationship between perpetrator and victim– Other crimes committed along with homicide

(robbery)– Multiple homicides, or homicide followed by

suicide

Homicide-Suicide Incidents

• Referred to as Murder-Suicide in the media• Rare but particularly violent• Devastates families and communities for a long time

Examples:-A man shoots his wife and child and immediately shoots himself.-A woman kills her child and herself in the same act.-A man shoots his terminally ill wife and then himself after they made a pact. (“mercy killing”)

Homicide rates among persons ages 10 to 24 years dropped from 15.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 1994 to 7.5 deaths per

100,000 in 2010.

Homicide-Suicide (cont)• “There were a total of 41 homicide-suicide incidents

that occurred in Massachusetts between 2003 and 2007. -This includes 49 homicides and 41 suicides for a total of 90

deaths.”

• Usually involves the use of a firearm• 90% of the time the perpetrator is a white male• Most do not involve an intoxicated perpetrator • 80-90% are intimate-partner related• Adults 55 years and older are twice as likely to commit

homicide-suicide than younger age groups• To be considered a homicide-suicide, the perpetrator’s

suicide must occur within 24 hours of the homicide

• Homicide and suicide are the 3rd and 4th leading causes of death for people up to the age of 39– Violent deaths from homicide and suicide took more

than 49,000 lives in the US in 2003 • 38,000+ people died by suicide, 16,000+ people died by

homicide in the United States in 2010

(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563479)

Protests Gone Violent

• Protests in Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela, and more• Began as a nonviolent protest for change, ended up to be very

violent with many casualties • Ukraine – 100 protesters died in one day, hundreds of others

wounded and/or hospitalized • UN estimates over 60,000 people killed since Syrian protests began

in March 2011– Likely an underestimate of actual number of deaths (plus many

missing)• As of March 18th, Venezuelan death toll reaches 29, including

protestors and government supporters, with the most recent death being a Venezuelan national guard who was shot in the head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aA5QSXiqbA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ihCkSMsf8

Stuff

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563479/• http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.

nsf/Content/palliativecare-pubs-rsch-grief~palliativecare-pubs-rsch-grief-5

• http://www.cdc.gov/violencePrevention/NVDRS/index.html

• http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/departments/dph/programs/health-stats/injury-suveillance/reports/violent-death-reporting.html

• http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/02/world/meast/syria-civil-war/