Colorado Violent Death Reporting System

 

The Colorado Violent Death Reporting System collects information on violent deaths (homicide, suicide, deaths of undetermined intent, and unintentional firearm-related deaths) occurring within Colorado, from a variety of data sources including death certificate, coroner/medical examiner reports, law enforcement investigations, crime lab information, and firearm trace data. The purpose of the database is to provide a more complete understanding of when, where, and how violent deaths occur.

 

Violence is a major public health problem in the United States.

• Homicide and suicide account for more than 46,000 deaths each year.
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young adults ages 25 to 34 years in the U.S. and the third leading cause of death for youth ages 10 to 24 years.
• Homicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 15 to 24 years in the U.S. and the fourth leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 14 years.

 

In Colorado in 2006

• 722 people died by suicide
• 198 people died of homicide or a legal intervention
• 10 children age 4 or younger were a victim of homicide
• 7 people died of unintentional firearm injuries
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death and homicide is the third leading cause of death for young Coloradans ages 15-34.

 

In 2004, Colorado had the 7th highest rate of suicide in the nation.

Current data do not provide all the information needed to accurately assess the factors causing violent deaths. Death certificates, for example, cannot link victim and suspect information.

 

National Violent Death Reporting System

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is funding 13 states including Colorado (AK, CO, GA, MA, MD, NC, NJ, OK, OR, RI, SC, VA, WI) to initiate the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). CDC has begun estimating the cost of fully implementing a National Violent Death Reporting System to provide accurate cost-benefit information for decision-makers in federal, state and local entities. At the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the Injury Epidemiology Program is primarily responsible for this data system for violent deaths occurring within Colorado and the data collection began with cases in January 2004. More information on the NVDRS is available at www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/dvp.htm

 

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What is the goal of Colorado's Violent Death Reporting System?

• Collect detailed information about violent deaths in Colorado, including when, where, and how it happened.
• Link data collected by crime labs, police, vital statistics, and the coroner's office into our reporting system.
• Provide information to help law enforcement, public health officials, violence prevention groups, and policy makers better understand the problems and guide local action plans for prevention
• Strengthen a joint public health and criminal justice response to violence.

 

What are the sources of data?

• Vital Statistics provides such information as worked-related status, education level, demographics and cause of death.
• Coroner/Medical Examiner Report provides such information as toxicology reports, circumstances of injury, medical history and manner of death.
• Law Enforcement Investigation provides such information as perpetrator data, weapon information, risk factors and past criminal history.

 

Unique data elements from each of these sources will be linked and combined to create a comprehensive source for statewide violent death data.

 

What kinds of questions will be answered by this data system?

Local, state or national policy makers and community program developers need better information about violence. State and local agencies have detailed information that would answer fundamental questions about patterns and trends in violence, yet this information is fragmented and inaccessible. Creating a system to pool these valuable pieces of data would help answer such fundamental questions as:

• Where are youths most likely to obtain the weapons they use in acts of violence?
• What life crisis most commonly precedes a suicide?
• What percent of women killed by an intimate partner had a restraining order against their offender?
• What is the typical length of time between the purchase of a firearm and the occurrence of a violent act?
• How many suicide victims made previous attempts?
• How often do murder-suicides occur and the how often are children involved?
• Are violent deaths in schools increasing or decreasing?
• What proportion of homicides result from illicit drug deals?
• How often do murder-suicides occur?
• How serious a threat are mass killings?

 

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