Citation

Kohlbeck S, Nelson D. Violence Gend. 2020; 7(1): 3-5.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/vio.2019.0018

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Our society is violent, and people who commit "violent acts" are oppressed human beings who are reacting to their reality and their context. An emerging public health theme is to frame gun violence as a biopsychosocial disease to consider root causes, "risk factors," and strategies for prevention. These strategies, although useful, do not address our violent society and draw attention away from a dialogue about our violent reality. It is imperative that we initiate a dialogue about structural violence to elucidate the context that drives the violence we witness and experience in our communities. Dismantling the structures that facilitate unequal access to services, that disenfranchise groups of people, that prevent people from obtaining safe housing, and that disproportionately imprison men of color would be real gun violence prevention.

Language: en