Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 42 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2019

Abstract

Problem/Condition In 2019, approximately 67,000 persons died of violence-related injuries in the United States. This report summarizes data from CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) on violent deaths that occurred in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in 2019. Results are reported by sex, age group, race and ethnicity, method of injury, type of location where the injury occurred, circumstances of injury, and other selected characteristics. Period Covered 2019. Description of System NVDRS collects data regarding violent deaths obtained from death certificates, coroner and medical examiner records, and law enforcement reports. This report includes data collected for violent deaths that occurred in 2019. Data were collected from 39 states with statewide data (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming), three states with data from counties representing a subset of their population (30 California counties, representing 57% of its population, and 47 Illinois counties and 40 Pennsylvania counties, representing at least 80% of their populations), the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. NVDRS collates information for each violent death and links deaths that are related (e.g., multiple homicides, homicide followed by suicide, or multiple suicides) into a single incident. Results For 2019, NVDRS collected information on 50,374 fatal incidents involving 51,627 deaths that occurred in 42 states (39 states collecting statewide data, 30 California counties, 47 Illinois counties, and 40 Pennsylvania counties), and the District of Columbia. In addition, information was collected for 831 fatal incidents involving 897 deaths in Puerto Rico. Data for Puerto Rico were analyzed separately. Of the 51,627 deaths, the majority (64.1%) were suicides, followed by homicides (25.1%), deaths of undetermined intent (8.7%), legal intervention deaths (1.4%) (i.e., deaths caused by law enforcement and other persons with legal authority to use deadly force acting in the line of duty, excluding legal executions), and unintentional firearm deaths (<1.0%). The term “legal intervention” is a classification incorporated into the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, and does not denote the lawfulness or legality of the circumstances surrounding a death caused by law enforcement. Demographic patterns and circumstances varied by manner of death. The suicide rate was higher for males than for females. Across all age groups, the suicide rate was highest among adults aged 45–54 years. In addition, non-Hispanic A...

Suicides Among American Indian or Alaska Native Persons — National Violent Death Reporting System, United States, 2015–2020

“…Similarly, more alcohol and other substance use circumstances, including those of an acute and more chronic nature, were observed in this study, as were criminal problems, although the nature of these problems was unknown. According to previous NVDRS reports, approximately one half of persons who die by suicide do not have a known mental health condition ( 4 ). This study found that only 41.5% of AI/AN suicide decedents had a known mental health condition.…”

“…NVDRS is a state-based surveillance system that collects information from death certificates, coroner or medical examiner reports, and law enforcement reports on the characteristics and circumstances of violent deaths, including suicides ( 4 ). Data in this report are from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 49 U.S. states participating in NVDRS during 2015–2020 * ; some jurisdictions did not participate for the entire period because they were not yet funded or because they did not achieve data completion thresholds (Supplementary Table, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/121071 ) ( 4 ). Analyses were limited to decedents aged ≥10 years, because determining suicide intent in young children can be difficult ( 5 ).…”

“…NVDRS is a state-based surveillance system that collects information from death certificates, coroner or medical examiner reports, and law enforcement reports on the characteristics and circumstances of violent deaths, including suicides (4).…”

“…Data in this report are from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 49 U.S. states participating in NVDRS during 2015-2020*; some jurisdictions did not participate for the entire period because they were not yet funded or because they did not achieve data completion thresholds (Supplementary Table, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/121071) (4). Analyses were limited to decedents aged ≥10 years, because determining suicide intent in young children can be difficult (5).…”

Coordinating a National Approach to Violence Prevention

“…Child physical abuse is experienced by approximately one-quarter of children at some point in their lives and by as many as 1 in 5 girls are sexually abused during childhood . Intimate partner violence has been experienced by about one-third of both women and men, and half of homicides among women are related to intimate partner violence . Elder abuse, in the form of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, is experienced by approximately 10% to 15% of people aged 60 years or older living in the US, with an estimated 95% of incidents going unreported.…”