Study Shows High-risk Communities Would Benefit from Firearm Safety Training

FIREARM SAFETY TRAINING could significantly reduce gun violence in high-risk communities, research by faculty in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCJS) published in Preventive Medicine suggests.

The study by Professor and Interim Chair Rod Brunson and Assistant Professor Brooklynn Hitchens, both of CCJS, and Brian Wade of the University of Pennsylvania, found that individuals at the greatest risk of experiencing gun violence tend to receive no formal firearm safety training.

They also generally store firearms in insecure locations, which likewise contributes to increased feelings of community unease, spurs individuals’ desire to arm themselves and peers, and raises the likelihood of fatal and nonfatal shootings.

The researchers interviewed 51 Black male residents of Brooklyn and the Bronx, two New York City boroughs where shootings are highly concentrated. All study participants were considered high-risk, meaning they were between the ages of 15-34 and had already been shot or shot at. Some were also unable to legally access guns due to a past conviction.

A unique element of the study is that three-quarters of respondents reported being shot at, but not suffering a gunshot injury, providing a more typical sampling of those who experienced gun violence than a survey of gunshot victims alone. •

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Read more at go.umd.edu/ccjsfirearmstudy

New Book Offers Insight into Religion in Prison

“IN THIS PLACE CALLED PRISON” (University of California Press, 2023) by Assistant Professor Rachel Ellis is a rare in-depth study of religious life in women’s prisons. Ellis interviewed incarcerated women, chaplains, volunteers, wardens, corrections officers and other members of a prison community on the East Coast to gain unique insights.

Ellis shows how members of faith communities are reframing what it means to be imprisoned, and are challenging societal messages of what punishment means. Ellis also found that religious affiliation— or lack thereof—creates a dynamic of “haves” and “have nots” in the prison community.

Legally, incarcerated people must have access to one worship service and one scripture-based service a week. They also have the right to accommodations for religious requirements, such as a Kosher diet for Jewish people.

But beyond those requirements, there are few limits to opportunities and gifts provided by volunteers and charitable organizations. To an overwhelming extent, Protestant Christians benefit from these gifts of time and goods, while people of different faiths—or those who do not identify with a religious tradition—are excluded.

Another disparity in treatment that Ellis noted among women of faith versus women who do not identify as members of a religious group was in how closely small groups were monitored. • Read