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Journal Issue: Children, Youth, and Gun Violence Volume 12 Number 2 Summer/Fall 2002

The Costs of Gun Violence against Children
Authors: Philip J. Cook Jens Ludwig

Endnotes

  1. Herbert, B. In America, fragile victories. New York Times. December 28, 2000, at A23.


  2. Holusha, J. Commercial property: The rocketing New York market levels off a bit. New York Times. January 7, 2001, at Section 11, p. 1.


  3. Jacobs, A. Back from the abyss. New York Times. March 18, 2001, at Section 14NJ, p. 1.


  4. Kotkin, J. The city by the bay? To them, it's Oakland. New York Times. February 18, 2001, at Section 3, p. 7.


  5. Cook, P.J., and Ludwig, J. Gun violence: The real costs. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.


  6. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Prison and jail inmates at midyear 1998. NCJ 173414. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, 1999.


  7. This estimate comes from self-reported victimization reports to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which suggests almost three million crimes of violence against people ages 12 to 20. The actual number of violent crimes is higher than three million because some children under age 12 are victimized but are not included in the NCVS sampling frame, and the youth who are at greatest risk for criminal victimization appear to be underrepresented in the NCVS sample. See Cook, P.J. The case of the missing victims: Gunshot woundings in the National Crime Survey. Journal of Quantitative Criminology (March 1985) 1(1):91–102.


  8. Cook, P.J. The influence of gun availability on violent crime patterns. In Crime and justice: An annual review of research. Vol. 4. N. Morris and M. Tonry, eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983, pp. 49–90.


  9. The best available estimates suggest that there are more than 2,000 suicide fatalities among Americans age 19 and younger each year and approximately 25 suicide attempts for every completion. National Institute of Mental Health. Suicide facts. Downloaded from http://www.nihm.gov/research/suifact.htm on December 18, 2000.


  10. The "instrumentality" effect has been debated for both homicide and suicide, on the grounds that the high case-fatality rates for gun violence simply indicate seriousness of purpose, and that those perpetrators would have found another way to kill if they had not had access to a gun. However, the evidence is very strong that the type of weapon has an independent, causal effect on the outcome for both assault and suicide. See Zimring, F.E. Is gun control likely to reduce violent killings? University of Chicago Law Review (1968) 35:21–37; Zimring, F.E. The medium is the message: Firearm calibre as a determinant of death from assault. Journal of Legal Studies (1972) 1:97–124; Cook, P.J. Robbery violence. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (1987) 70(2):357–76; Cook, P.J. The technology of personal violence. In Crime and Justice: An annual review of research. Vol. 14. M. Tonry, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991; Zimring, F.E., and Hawkins, G. Crime is not the problem: Lethal violence in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997; and Miller, M., and Hemenway, D. The relationship between firearms and suicide: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior (1999) 4(1):59–75.


  11. To see how this figure is derived, consider the effects of an intervention that results in 100 fewer gunshot injuries. Previous studies suggest that, on average, every 100 assault-related gunshot injuries will result in 20 deaths. To be conservative, assume that all of the 100 gunshot injuries that are prevented are replaced by 100 nongun injuries, of which approximately 7 will be fatal. See Cook, P.J., and Leitzel, J. Perversity, futility, jeopardy: An economic analysis of the attack on gun control. Law and Contemporary Problems (Winter 1996) 59(1):91–118.


  12. The savings to the criminal justice system from eliminating 100 gunshot injuries equal the difference between the criminal justice costs of 13 homicide cases (13 times $243,960 = $3.2 million) and the costs of 13 nonfatal aggravated assaults (13 times $6,200 = $80,600). The costs associated with all gunshot injuries thus equal the costs per injury ($31,000) times the number of crime-related gunshot injuries, equal to around 78,000 in 1997. See note no. 5, Cook and Ludwig, pp. 86–87.


  13. The Head Start program, administered by the Head Start Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was appropriated $6.2 billion during the 2001 federal fiscal year. See White House Office of Management and Budget. Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2002. Appendix. Washington, DC: OMB, 2001, p. 470. Downloaded from http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/
    fy2002/hhs.pdf     on November 12, 2001.


  14. Kaufman, P., Chen, X., Choy, S.P., et al. Indicators of school crime and safety, 1999. NCES 1999-057/NCJ-178906. Washington, DC: U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, 1999.


  15. Cullen, J.B., and Levitt, S.D. Crime, urban flight and the consequences for cities. Review of Economics and Statistics (1999) 81(2):159–69.


  16. 'Geography of opportunity' for public housing residents? Institute for Policy Research News. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University (2000) 21(1):1–2.


  17. Bragg, R. Children strike fear into grown-up hearts. New York Times. December 2, 1994, at A1.


  18. Halbfinger, D.M. Where fear lingers: A special report. New York Times. May 18, 1998, at A1.


  19. Kling, J.R., Liebman, J.B., and Katz, L.F. Moving to Opportunity in Boston: Early results of a randomized mobility experiment. NBER Working Paper no. 7973. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2000.


  20. Clotfelter, C.T., and Hahn, J.C. Assessing the 55 m.p.h. national speed limit. Policy Sciences (1978) 9:281–94.


  21. Levitt, S.D., and Venkatesh, S.A. An economic analysis of a drug-selling gang's finances. Quarterly Journal of Economics (2000) 3:755–90.


  22. See note no. 5, Cook and Ludwig, pp. 63–83.


  23. Viscusi, W.K. Fatal tradeoffs. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992; and Viscusi, W.K. The value of risks to life and health. Journal of Economic Literature (1993) 31(4):1912–46.


  24. Hanemann, W.M. Valuing the environment through contingent valuation. Journal of Economic Perspectives (1994) 8(4):19–43; and Diamond, P.A., and Hausman, J.A. Contingent valuation: Is some number better than no number? Journal of Economic Perspectives (1994) 8(4):45–64.


  25. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical abstract of the United States, 1999. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2000, Table 72.


  26. Gayer, T., Hamilton, J.T., and Viscusi, W.K. Private values of risk tradeoffs at Superfund sites: Housing market evidence on learning about risk. Review of Economics and Statistics (2000) 82(3):439–51.


  27. Anderson, D.A. The aggregate burden of crime. Journal of Law and Economics (1999) 42:611–37.


  28. See note no. 10, Zimring, 1968; and Hamermesh, D.S. Crime and the timing of work. NBER Working Paper no. 6613. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1998.


  29. See note no. 5, Cook and Ludwig, pp. 192–95; and Miller, T.R., and Cohen, M.A. Costs of gunshot and cut/stab wounds in the United States, with some Canadian comparisons. Accident Analysis and Prevention (1997) 29(3):329–41.


  30. Cook, P.J., and Ludwig, J. Guns in America: Results of a comprehensive survey of gun ownership and use. Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 1996.


  31. The authors' contingent valuation estimates suggest that the costs to society are on the order of $1 million per crime-related gunshot injury. Thus, if every group of 10,000 guns sold with personalized technology prevents one shooting, the personalization technology will be cost effective so long as it costs no more than $100 per gun ($1 million/10,000 units).


  32. Roth, J.A., and Koper, C.S. Impact evaluation of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 1997.