Community firearm violence in the United States (US), defined as intentional fatal and nonfatal shootings that result from interpersonal violence, has a disproportionately negative impact on racialized and minoritized groups. Recent research indicates that areas with limited economic prospects, higher concentrations of poverty, and residential instability tend to experience increased firearm violence. These factors are commonly recognized as social determinants of health. It is hypothesized that these determinants are symptoms of deeper upstream factors, including structural racism and longstanding structural disinvestment. This dissertation aims to deepen the understanding of current trends in community firearm violence, especially in relation to the historical context of structural racism. This will be achieved through a systematic review of existing literature and comprehensive empirical research.
This dissertation is divided into five chapters, beginning with an introductory overview. The second chapter presents a systematic review of the literature, focusing on various methodologies for measuring structural racism and estimating its association with community firearm violence (Aim 1). Chapters 3 and 4 involve empirical analyses. In Chapter 3, I develop and apply a structural racism index to study its relationship with community firearm violence in U.S. cities (Aim 2). This investigation spans three distinct historical periods of structural racism, testing its long-term impact on the risk of community firearm violence. Chapter 4 examines the impact of hot spot policing specifically through the use of stop, question, and frisk (SQF) on community firearm violence (Aim 3). It is posited that SQF perpetuates structural racism by disproportionately targeting minority communities, thereby contributing to the cyclical nature of violence within these neighborhoods. The aim is to determine if there is a measurable relationship between this single aspect of structural racism and the occurrence of community firearm violence in New York City. The final chapter, Chapter 5, synthesizes the research findings and situates them within the wider epidemiological discourse on firearm violence.
The results from Aim 1 of this study highlight a range of methods used to measure structural racism, all consistently demonstrating a positive association between structural racism and the incidence of community firearm violence. The Aim 2 findings demonstrate a statistically significant association between historical structural racism and increased incidence of community firearm violence in cities. Notably, the study identified significant associations between each of the three historical periods under study and a heightened risk of community firearm violence over time. Finally, Aim 3 reveals that stop, question, and frisk practices are statistically significantly associated with an increase in community firearm violence in block groups in New York City, even after controlling for additional indicators of structural racism and spatial dependencies.
In conclusion, this dissertation demonstrates a consistent and significant relationship between historical structural racism and the incidence of community firearm violence. Structural racism has a long-standing and widespread influence on community firearm violence, evident across various cities and scales, from broad systems of inequality to individual neighborhoods. This reality necessitates comprehensive, well-targeted interventions by policymakers and community leaders to tackle the deep-rooted causes of violence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:columbia.edu/oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/pq0v-rz29 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Gobaud, Ariana Neusha |
| Source Sets | Columbia University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Theses |
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