Health effects of dedicated units facilitating firearm relinquishment as part of civil domestic violence protection orders

• In Event: Families and Exposure to Violence: Evidence from Social Policy and Institutional Interventions

Abstract

Background: Firearms are used in domestic violence in nonfatal and fatal ways, contributing to over half of domestic homicides among other consequences. Extending federal laws that prohibit firearm possession, some state laws require individuals restrained by Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) to relinquish firearms and other dangerous weapons, under certain criteria. Existing ecological research suggests that laws requiring individuals restrained by a DVPO to relinquish weapons and firearms are associated with more than a 10% reduction in intimate partner homicide.  

Purpose: We evaluate the effects of units whose work is dedicated to facilitating relinquishment of weapons, including firearms, by individuals restrained by DVPOs, evaluating both serious injuries requiring hospitalization and death. This study builds on the existing literature by assessing the effectiveness of a specific approach to the implementation of relinquishment laws using dedicated units, employing a rigorous quasi-experimental approach, examining both fatal and nonfatal outcomes for protected individuals, and assessing outcomes at the individual-level where we are also able to measure mechanisms that may contribute to reduced injury and death.  

Methods: To estimate the effects of dedicated units on subsequent injury and death among protected individuals, we collected data from court records for a random sample of DVPOs (n=11,000) issued in four counties in WA state over almost a decade, two counties with dedicated units and two similar counties without dedicated units. We compared individuals protected by DVPOs issued in counties with a dedicated unit to individuals protected by DVPOs issued in counties without a unit using a two-stage differences-in-differences design to account for staggered roll-out of dedicated units. We exploited variation in initiation of these units across counties as well as probabilistic linkages to both hospitalization and death records. We hypothesized that individuals protected by DVPOs issued in counties with a dedicated unit would be less likely to have a serious injury requiring hospitalization or death than similar individuals protected by DVPOs issued in counties without a dedicated unit. As possible mechanisms, we explored both judicial orders to relinquish weapons and firearms as well as the relinquishment of weapons and firearms by restrained individuals.   

Findings and Implications: Over 82% (9,088 of 11,000) of protected individuals were women, and the average age was 39.3 years (SD=14.0, Median=36.6). There were 392 deaths observed among protected individuals and around 6,875 hospitalization stays. About 3.7% were homicide deaths, and about 6.4% were suicide deaths. We will assess whether both death and hospitalization differed based on the status of a dedicated unit. We will use event study frameworks to determine whether dedicated units reduced the probability of injury or death for protected individuals.

Author

• Alice M Ellyson, University of Washington
  Presenting Author