Title: 
Headings:  The Relationship  Between Community Violence and Trauma
The
 
Relationship
  
Between
 
Community
 
Violence
 
and
 
T
rauma
 

How
 
violence
 
affects
 
learning,
  
health,
 
and
 
behavior

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COPYRIGHT
 
AND
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 

INTRODUCTION

       
What
 
mark,
 
beyond
 
the
 
physical,
 
do
 
bullets
 
leave?

BACKGROUND
 

EMERGING
 
BRAIN
 
SCIENCE

EARLY
 
LIFE
 
ADVERSITY
 
AND
 
TOXIC
 
STRESS

HOW
 
TOXIC
 
STRESS
 
IS
 
DIFFERENT10
 

WHY
 
ARE
 
WE
 
TALKING
 
ABOUT
 
ACES?

HOW
 
STRESS
 
AFFECTS
 
THE
 
BRAIN

Center
 
on
 
the
 
Developing
 
Child,
 
Key
 
Concepts
 
of
 
Toxic
 
Stress
 

TYPES
 
OF
 
TRAUMA

IMPACT
 
OF
 
TRAUMA
 

LEARNING
 
&
 
DEVELOPMENT

Consequences
 
of
 
Community
 
Violence
 
on
 
Learning
 
and
 
Development

MENTAL
 
HEALTH
 
&
 
BEHAVIOR

Exposure
 
to
 
community
 
violence
 
appears
 
to
 
represent
 
a
 
unique
 
form
 
of
 
trauma
 
that
 
is
 
particularly
 
associated
 
with
 
the
 
development
 
of
 
PTSD
 
symptoms,
 
especially
 
among
 
children
 
and
 
adolescents.51
 

Consequences
 
of
 
Community
 
Violence
 
on
 
Mental
 
Health
 

Consequences
 
of
 
Community
 
Violence
 
on
 
Behavior

CHRONIC
 
ILLNESS

SCOPE

Increased
diabetes

SUMMARY

Impact
 
on
 
Learning
 
and
 
Development

Impact
 
on
 
Mental
 
Health
 
and
 
Emotional
 
Wellbeing

Impact
 
on
 
Behavior

Impact
 
on
 
Chronic
 
Illness

WELLBEING
  

COMMUNITIES
  

EDUCATION
  

HEALTH
  

IMPACT
 
OF
 

EXPOSURE
 
TO
 
GUN
 

CRIMINAL
 
JUSTICE
  

INVESTMENT
  

POLICY
 
RECOMMENDATIONS

GLOSSARY
 
OF
 
TERMS
 

Adverse
 
Childhood
 
Experience
 
(ACEs)
 
and
 
early
 
life
 
adversity
 

Collective
 
traumatization
 

Community
 
violence
 

Complex
 
Trauma
 

Positive
 
stress
 

Tolerable
 
stress
 

Toxic
 
Stress
 

ENDNOTES


Content: BACKGROUND
 
For
 
years,
 
gun
 
violence
 
prevention
 
and
 
reduction
 
focused
 
primarily
 
on
 
topics
 
such
 
as
 
homicide
 
and
 
injury
 
rates,
 
the
 
relationship
 
between
 
perpetrator
 
and
 
victim,
 
improvements
 
in
 
emergency
 
care,
 
and
 
calculating
 
the
 
cost
 
to
 
society. Very
 
rarely
 
included
 
was
 
the
 
subject
 
of
 
how
 
gun
 
violence
 
more
 
broadly
 
impacts
 
the
 
individuals
 
and
 
affected
 
communities. And
 
as
 
community
 
violence
 
is
 
not
 
evenly
 
distributed
 
across
 
neighborhoods
 
in
 
the
 
United
 
States,
 
it
 
is
 
important
 
to
 
note
 
that
 
residents
 
who
 
experience
 
a
 
greater
 
share
 
of
 
the
 
types
 
of
 
events
 
that
 
comprise
 
community
 
violence
 
tend
 
to
 
be
 
people
 
of
 
color. While
 
community
 
violence
 
is
 
a
 
blanket
 
phrase
 
that
 
includes
 
a
 
variety
 
of
 
behaviors,
 
gun
 
violence
 
is
 
perhaps
 
the
 
most
 
prevalent. As
 
evidence
 
of
 
the
 
centrality
 
of
 
firearms
 
in
 
community
 
violence,
 
a
 
ranking
 
of
 
the
 
top
 
10
 
leading
 
causes
 
of
 
violence-related
 
deaths
 
in
 
2015
 
puts
 
homicide
 
involving
 
a
 
firearm
 
first
 
among
 
15-
 
to
 
34-year
 
-olds.1
 
And
 
a
 
ranking
 
of
 
the
 
10
 
leading
 
causes
 
of
 
violence-related
 
injury
 
deaths
 
lists
 
homicide
 
involving
 
a
 
firearm
 
as
 
the
 
number
 
one
 
cause
 
of
 
death
 
for
 
all
 
ages
 
combined
 
for
 
both
 
blacks
 
and
 
Hispanics.2
 
For
 
the
 
purposes
 
of
 
comparison,
 
overall
 
for
 
non-Hispanic
 
whites
 
homicide
 
with
 
a
 
firearm
 
ranks
 
fourth.3
 
Further,
 
analysis
 
of
 
homicide
 
victims
 
in
 
2015
 
reveals
 
that
 
83
 
percent
 
of
 
black
 
homicide
 
victims
 
were
 
killed
 
with
 
a
 
firearm.4
  
Given
 
that
 
the
 
most
 
recent
 
available
 
national
 
estimates
 
show
 
that
 
more
 
than
 
70
 
percent
 
of
 
injuries
 
involving
 
gun
 
violence
 
are
 
non-fatal,5
 
it’s
 
worthwhile
 
to
 
consider
 
the
 
impact
 
on
 
individuals
 
who
 
witness
 
or
 
survive
 
acts
 
of
 
violence. What
 
mark,
 
beyond
 
the
 
physical,
 
do
 
bullets
 
leave? These
 
questions
 
have
 
historically
 
been
 
the
 
domain
 
of
 
therapists
 
and
 
psychologists
 
left
 
to
 
manage
 
the
 
aftermath. However,
 
advances
 
in
 
recent
 
brain
 
science
 
research
 
have
 
bridged
 
these
 
two
 
worlds,
 
connecting
 
community
 
violence
 
with
 
short-
 
and
 
long-term
 
consequences
 
in
 
behavior,
 
health,
 
and
 
well-being. EMERGING
 
BRAIN
 
SCIENCE
Emerging
 
brain
 
science
 
research
 
has
 
become
 
a
 
growing
 
source
 
of
 
information
 
contributing
 
to
 
our
 
understanding
 
of
 
behavior
 
and
 
health
 
outcomes. The
 
1990s
 
are
 
often
 
referred
 
to
 
as
 
the
 
“Decade
 
of
 
the
 
Brain”
 
because
 
of
 
the
 
enormous
 
insights
 
into
 
how
 
the
 
brain
 
works
 
as
 
well
 
as
 
innovative
 
imaging
 
technology
 
that
 
now
 
allows
 
for
 
new
 
ways
 
to
 
visualize
 
the
 
brain.6
 
Further,
 
these
 
advances
 
have
 
led
 
to
 
more
 
sophisticated
 
techniques
 
for
 
examining
 
the
 
interaction
 
between
 
the
 
brain,
 
the
 
environment,
 
and
 
resulting
 
behavior.