Gun Violence Rises with Fewer Neighborhood Ties

Want to reduce gun violence? Then strong neighborhood ties may be the answer. Scientists have found that the bonds that tie a neighborhood together can help shield community members from gun violence.

"Violence results I chronic community-level trauma and stress, and undermines health, capacity and productivity in these neighborhoods," said Emily Wang, the lead author of the new study, in a news release. "Police and government response to the problem has focused on the victim or the criminal. Our study focuses on empowering communities to combat the effects of living with chronic and persistent gun violence."

In this case, the scientists studied neighborhoods in New Haven, Connecticut with high crime statistics. Then, they trained 17 community members in the Newhallville and West River neighborhoods in research and survey methods in order to gather data from about 300 of their own neighbors.

The researchers found that over half of the neighbors surveyed knew none or a few of their neighbors. In addition, almost all of the study participants had heard a gunshot, two-thirds had a friend or family member hurt by a violent act, and nearly 60 percent had a friend or family member killed at one point.

Yet the strength of bonds between neighbors may prevent this type of violence. Social cohesion and the strength of bonds between neighbors is inversely associated with exposure to gun violence.

"Disaster preparedness principles like community resilience can be used to improve a community's ability to band together and use resources to respond to, withstand, recover from and even grow from bad events," said Wang.

Currently, the researchers are working with community leaders to potentially strengthen neighborhood social ties.

The findings were presented on Dec. 19 at the Institute of Medicine's Means of Violence workshop.

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