Kaplan on Homicide Rates and Gun Violence

Mark Kaplan, professor emeritus of social welfare at UCLA Luskin, commented in a Dayton Daily News article about gun-related crimes in the city of Dayton, Ohio. The story follows an investigation of gun violence data over the past quarter century that shows gun violence has been concentrated, and remains concentrated, in the same neighborhoods in the city. Four out of five shootings and violent gun crimes with injuries occurred in the west and northwest portions of the city, according to the newspaper’s research of Dayton Police Department data. The story also cited a recent citywide survey that found that many Dayton residents worry about firearm violence. Kaplan noted that homicide rates around the globe are highly correlated with income and wealth inequality and that areas with high levels of gun violence usually are segregated, disadvantaged, neglected and under resourced. He added that a “constellation of interrelated pathologies” contributes to gun violence and where it takes place.