4149.0: Tuesday, November 14, 2000: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM

Violence: A National Epidemic

Public Health must lay the foundation for a complete re-thinking of the nature and meaning of violence in society. We must begin to understand that the motives of men who commit horrifying crimes, men who not only kill other people but also destroy themselves are rooted in the shame and loss of self-respect from which they suffer. Feelings of shame cause violent and vengeful behavior. Conventional punitive legal and penal systems are based on notions of justice and retribution which only perpetuate vilent behavior. Widening inequalities and neglect in our society over the past decades has led to an epidemic of vilence which, poignantly, has even reached our children. Important work in major American cities is underway to address these egregious conditions. This session will focus on some of the programs which have developed a public health response to address and reverse these tragic trends. At the conclusion of this session, attendess will be able to answer the following questions: 1. Is there a relationship between a person's income, educational background and the probability of incarceration? 2. How is violence a medical as well as a social problem? 3. Is the "war on crime" working? 4. What federal, state and local programs are in place to address the rising numbers of adolescents involved in violent crimes?
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement.
Learning Objectives: Refer to the individual abstracts for learning objectives
Presider(s):Joy Marshall, MA, MD
12:30 PMTBA
Nick Pastore
12:50 PMShifting the Focus: New Ideas in Violence Prevention
Larry Cohen, MSW
1:10 PMViolence: Our Deadliest Epidemic
James Gilligan, MD
1:30 PMDiscussion
Sponsor:Peace Caucus
Cosponsors:Community Health Planning and Policy Development; Environment; Public Health Education and Health Promotion; Public Health Nursing; School Health Education and Services; Social Work; Socialist Caucus; Women's Caucus

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA