Citation

Patton DU, McGregor K, Slutkin G. Pediatrics 2018; 141(4): ePub.

Affiliation

University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois. Address correspondence to Desmond Upton Patton, PhD, MSW, Columbia University School of Social Work, 1255 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027. E-mail: dp2787@columbia.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Academy of Pediatrics)

DOI

10.1542/peds.2017-2438

PMID

29496903

Abstract

Gakirah Barnes, a 17-year old who publicly claimed affiliation with a well-known Chicago gang, was killed just 3 blocks from her home in 2014. She had revealed her address in real time on social media, which directed the perpetrators to her exact location. Her Twitter account revealed a road map of clues about the trauma she endured and her own engagement in violence. Her online history included direct and indirect threats toward known rival gangs, boastful discussions of the perpetration of past violence, images and videos of her with semiautomatic handguns, and countless expressions of loss and grief. Although it is evident that Gakirah’s Twitter posts played a role in her killing, could the same social media information have been used to prevent her death?

Firearm violence is a serious public health problem in the United States, where the firearm death rate is 10 times higher than other high-income, industrialized nations. Firearm violence is particularly acute in large cities, where violence tends to cluster in marginalized communities of color. In a report from the University of Chicago Crime Laboratory,1 researchers stated that Chicago experienced a 58% increase in homicides in 2016; 80% of those homicide victims were African American, and within that group, most were males between the ages of 15 and 34 with at least 1 previous arrest. In addition, for the first 6 months of 2017, Chicago logged 327 homicides, which puts it on pace to …

Language: en