@article{ref1,
title="Surveillance for violent deaths - National Violent Death Reporting System, 34  states, four California Counties, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2017",
journal="MMWR: Surveillance summaries",
year="2020",
author="Petrosky, Emiko and Ertl, Allison and Sheats, Kameron J. and Wilson, Rebecca and Betz, Carter J. and Blair, Janet M.",
volume="69",
number="8",
pages="1-37",
abstract="PROBLEM/CONDITION: In 2017, approximately 67,000 persons died of violence-related  injuries in the United States. This report summarizes data from CDC's National  Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) on violent deaths that occurred in 34 states,  four California counties, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in 2017. <br><br>RESULTS  are reported by sex, age group, race/ethnicity, method of injury, type of location  where the injury occurred, circumstances of injury, and other selected  characteristics. PERIOD COVERED: 2017. DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM: NVDRS collects data  regarding violent deaths obtained from death certificates, coroner and medical  examiner reports, and law enforcement reports. This report includes data collected  for violent deaths that occurred in 2017. Data were collected from 34 states  (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,  Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New  Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,  Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington,  West Virginia, and Wisconsin), four California counties (Los Angeles, Sacramento,  Shasta, and Siskiyou), the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. NVDRS collates  information for each death and links deaths that are related (e.g., multiple  homicides, homicide followed by suicide, or multiple suicides) into a single  incident. <br><br>RESULTS: For 2017, NVDRS collected information on 45,141 fatal incidents  involving 46,389 deaths that occurred in 34 states, four California counties, and  the District of Columbia; in addition, information was collected on 961 fatal  incidents involving 1,027 deaths in Puerto Rico. Data for Puerto Rico were analyzed  separately. Of the 46,389 deaths in the 34 states, four California counties, and  District of Columbia, the majority (63.5%) were suicides, followed by homicides  (24.9%), deaths of undetermined intent (9.7%), legal intervention deaths (1.4%)  (i.e., deaths caused by law enforcement and other persons with legal authority to  use deadly force acting in the line of duty, excluding legal executions), and  unintentional firearm deaths (<1.0%). (The term &quot;legal intervention&quot; is a  classification incorporated into the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth  Revision, and does not denote the lawfulness or legality of the circumstances  surrounding a death caused by law enforcement.) Demographic patterns and  circumstances varied by manner of death. The suicide rate was higher among males  than among females and was highest among adults aged 45-64 years and ≥85 years and  non-Hispanic American Indians/Alaska Natives and non-Hispanic Whites. The most  common method of injury for suicide was a firearm among males and poisoning among  females. Suicide was most often preceded by a mental health, intimate partner, or  physical health problem or a recent or impending crisis during the previous or  upcoming 2 weeks. The homicide rate was highest among persons aged 20-24 years and  was higher among males than females. Non-Hispanic Black males had the highest  homicide rate of any racial/ethnic group. The most common method of injury for  homicide was a firearm. When the relationship between a homicide victim and a  suspect was known, the suspect was most frequently an acquaintance or friend for  male victims and a current or former intimate partner for female victims. Homicide  most often was precipitated by an argument or conflict, occurred in conjunction with  another crime, or, for female victims, was related to intimate partner violence. Among intimate partner violence-related homicides, the largest proportion occurred  among adults aged 35-54 years, and the most common method of injury was a firearm. When the relationship between an intimate partner violence-related homicide victim  and a suspect was known, most female victims were killed by a current or former  intimate partner, whereas approximately half of male victims were killed by a  suspect who was not their intimate partner. Almost all legal intervention deaths  were among males, and the legal intervention death rate was highest among men aged  25-29 years. Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native males had the highest legal  intervention death rate, followed by non-Hispanic Black males. A firearm was used in  the majority of legal intervention deaths. When a specific type of crime was known  to have precipitated a legal intervention death, the type of crime was most  frequently assault/homicide. The most frequent circumstances for legal intervention  deaths were reported use of a weapon by the victim in the incident and a mental  health or substance use problem (other than alcohol use). Unintentional firearm  deaths more frequently occurred among males, non-Hispanic Whites, and persons aged  15-24 years. These deaths most often occurred while the shooter was playing with a  firearm and most frequently were precipitated by a person unintentionally pulling  the trigger or mistakenly thinking the firearm was unloaded. The rate of death when  the manner was of undetermined intent was highest among males, particularly among  non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native males, and persons  aged 30-34 years. Poisoning was the most common method of injury in deaths of  undetermined intent, and opioids were detected in nearly 80% of decedents tested for  those substances. <br><br>INTERPRETATION: This report provides a detailed summary of data  from NVDRS on violent deaths that occurred in 2017. The suicide rate was highest  among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native and non-Hispanic White males,  whereas the homicide rate was highest among non-Hispanic Black males. Intimate  partner violence precipitated a large proportion of homicides for females. Mental  health problems, intimate partner problems, interpersonal conflicts, and acute life  stressors were primary circumstances for multiple types of violent death. PUBLIC  HEALTH ACTION: NVDRS data are used to monitor the occurrence of violence-related  fatal injuries and assist public health authorities in developing, implementing, and  evaluating programs and policies to reduce and prevent violent deaths. For example,  South Carolina VDRS and Colorado VDRS are using their data to support suicide  prevention programs through systems change and the Zero Suicide framework. North  Carolina VDRS and Kentucky VDRS data were used to examine intimate partner  violence-related deaths beyond homicides to inform prevention efforts. <br><br>FINDINGS from  these studies suggest that intimate partner violence might also contribute to other  manners of violent death, such as suicide, and preventing intimate partner violence  might reduce the overall number of violent deaths. In 2019, NVDRS expanded data  collection to include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico,  providing more comprehensive and actionable violent death information for public  health efforts to reduce violent deaths.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1546-0738",
doi="10.15585/mmwr.ss6908a1",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6908a1"
}