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Researchers found the numbers are even more stark when broken down
along racial barriers, with over half of all Black and Latino study
participants by that age having already witnessed such an
occurrence, compared to one-fourth of all white participants.
"We expected levels of exposure to gun violence to be high, but not
this high,” study author Charles Lanfear, an assistant professor at
the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology, told
Fox32Chicago.com. “Our findings are frankly startling and
disturbing. A substantial portion of Chicago’s population could be
living with trauma as a result of witnessing shootings and
homicides, often at a very young age."
Researchers said the average age for witnessing a shooting was 14
years old, with women only slightly less likely than men to have
undergone such a dark experience. Data also shows men were much more
likely to be gunshot victims.
The study tracked more than 2,000 Chicagoans over 25 years, from
childhood and adolescence in the 1990s to the start of middle age,
with individuals who moved away from the city continuing to be
tracked and the overwhelming majority of the gun violence incidents
that were witnessed taking place on city streets.
Researchers added some of the participants actually became victims,
with about 7% of all Black and Latino participants becoming gunshot
victims by age 40, compared to 3% of white participants. The average
age for being shot was 17.
Researchers also called attention to areas of all the gun violence,
finding that in recent years rates of shootings within a 250-meter
radius of where Black participants lived were over 12 times higher
than for areas around the homes of white participants. In the case
of Latino participants, the rates of shootings were roughly four
times higher than white participants.
"The long-term stress of exposure to firearm violence can contribute
to everything from lower test scores for school kids to diminished
life expectancy through heart disease," Lanfear added.
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