Violence in America: A Public Health Approach

Abstract

This book marks a beginning. It follows a relatively short official history of public health and interpersonal violence that began in the late 1970s when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hired Mark Rosenberg for a program of violence epidemiology, and Surgeon General Koop listed homicide, child abuse, and suicide in his objectives for 1990. The editors note that "our knowledge of how to prevent violence is far less extensive than our knowledge of its scope and impact." The book outlines our knowledge of various categories of violence and suggests interventions. The first two chapters are an excellent overview of statistics and data systems as related to interpersonal violence. "During 1986 and 1987, the number of people who died from firearm injuries in the United States (66,182) was greater than the number of casualties suffered in the entire eight and one-half years of the conflict in Vietnam." Race and