Violence Prevention
Violence, overall, has become a public health crisis. The three leading causes of death in the United States for people ages 15-34 are unintentional injury, suicide, and homicide [1]. These violent deaths are, more often than not, directly associated with firearms. Shelby county reports increasing major violent crime rates surging in the third quarter of 2020 according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Major violent crimes such as murder and aggravated assaults rates attributed to this increase with murders up 62.7% in Memphis and 55.1% countywide, and aggravated assaults up 27.2% in Memphis and 26.6% countywide. Shelby county efforts to reduce crime and violence includes strengthening community engagement in crime prevention efforts, strengthening law enforcement's ability to reduce violent street crimes, strengthening intervention programs for ex-offenders, and strengthening enhance domestic violence prevention and intervention efforts.