‘Are We There Yet? I am Losing Him’: Geographic Disparities in Mortality following a Gunshot Wound

• In Event: Communities and Place: What the Criminology of Communities and Place Can Tell Us about Health

Abstract

A central focus in contemporary criminology has been identifying structural characteristics of communities that are associated with elevated rates of crime and violence. Though the correlates of firearm-related incidents have been subject to a great deal of scholarly attention, what is less understood are the contextual factors associated with the probability of survival after one has suffered a gunshot wound. Given that most victims of gun violence survive, it is possible that substantial variation in the likelihood of survival exists across neighborhoods due to structural conditions and geographic distance from critical emergency care. Using data on shooting victims from 2006 to 2018 provided by the Philadelphia Police Department, the current study examines the structural factors associated with mortality following a criminal shooting incident while controlling for a host of victim- and incident-level characteristics including incident severity. A number of hierarchical and geographically-informed regression techniques are employed. Results of the analysis are presented along with study limitations and implications for future research.

Authors

• David Hatten, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center

• Kevin Tyler Wolff, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center