Project Categories

Social Contagion of Adolescent Violence

Award Year: 2001 Investigator: Jeffrey Fagan
While the 1985-1998 epidemic of adolescent violence in U.S. cities has generated intense scholarly and policy interest, spatial and temporal diffusion of the epidemic have been largely overlooked. This project will explore whether current models of infectious disease epidemics can be adapted to explain the spread of youthful violence - particularly its onset, spread, peak, recession and cessation.

Inter-Ethnic Violence in Inner-City Schools: An Analysis of Its Causes and Consequences as Well as Public Health & Law Enforcement Approaches to Reduce It

Award Year: 1999 Investigator: Martin Sanchez-Jankowski
Violence among Mexican Americans and African Americans in California inner-city schools has risen in recent years, causing death, injury, destruction of property, and loss of educational time. The project's objectives are to: 1) understand the conditions that precipitate and maintain this violence; 2) identify how it has physically and psychologically affected those who've experienced it; and 3) assess the public health and law enforcement policy approaches for controlling it. Dr.

Firearms and Public Health

Award Year: 1997 Investigator: David Hemenway
Firearms are the second leading cause of injury-related death in the U.S. While attention to the problem has increased, the amount of research on the topic lags behind. This project provides new information about gun carrying, storage, brandishing, injuries, the use of guns in self-defense, and the connection between guns and suicide. It also synthesizes new public health literature relevant to firearms policy and analyzes private firearm surveys from college students and adults.