Level I Trauma Hospital Proximity and Rate of Fatality in Firearm Injuries in New York City: A Preliminary Analysis

There has been a precipitous drop in homicides in urban areas since a peak year in homicides in 1990. In 1990, there were two thousand two hundred fifty (2,250) homicides in New York City. Homicides began to slowly decrease in the early 1990's, then decreased intensely through the mid 1990's and that decrease has continued. In 2009, there were four hundred seventy-one (471) homicides, a record low not seen since the early 1960's. There have been numerous theories and perspectives attributed to the decrease, including efficient law enforcement, punitive prison policies, an improved economy and a change in the collective social conscious of New York City residents (Karmen, 2006). One potential reason for the decrease in homicides is the improvement of emergency medicine and treatment of shooting victims. This analysis will discuss these issues and conduct a preliminary analysis using location data of fifty-five hundred three (5,503) shooting incidents in New York City (NYC) from 2004 to 2008. Approximately twenty-one percent (21%) resulted in a fatality. This preliminary analysis will focus on the location of Level I Trauma Centers in New York City and the relationship between the distance of the Level I Trauma Center and location of shooting incident. The primary research question is to determine if there is relationship between location of Level I trauma center and likelihood of the shooting incident resulting in a homicide by conducting a Nearest Neighbor Analysis.