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About the National Violent Death Reporting System 

 
The Public Health Problem

Violence is a major public health problem in the United States. Homicide and suicide account for more than 46,000 deaths each year.¹

Homicide was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 24 in 2001.¹ Suicide was the third leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 24 in 2001.¹ More information is available from CDC Injury Center's WISQARS reports on leading causes of death.

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.

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Online]. (2002). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer). Available from: URL: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars.  

 

The Goal of NVDRS


A state-based violent death reporting system, NVDRS will provide accurate and timely information to:

  • make informed decisions about local policies and programs geared toward keeping citizens safe;
  • help decision makers answer questions about the magnitude, trends, and characteristics of violent deaths;
  • evaluate and continue to improve state-based violence prevention policies and programs.

 
The Gaps in Understanding

  • Currently, local, state, and national policy makers and community program developers do not have comprehensive information about violent deaths.
  • State and local agencies have detailed information that answers fundamental questions about patterns and trends in violence, yet this information is fragmented and inaccessible. Creating a system to pool these valuable data would help answer such fundamental questions as:
    • Are violent deaths in schools increasing or decreasing?
    • What proportion of homicides result from illicit drug deals?
    • How often do murder-suicides occur?
    • How frequently are homicides associated with child abuse?
    • How serious a threat are mass killings?

CDC's Current Activities

  • As of January 2004, CDC is funding 13 states (AK, CO, GA, MA, MD, NC, NJ, OK, OR, RI, SC, VA, WI) to implement the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). To standardize the system, CDC offers trainings on implementation and data coding. CDC continually evaluates activities to improve the system and to assure data quality.
  • CDC is piloting the collection of data from state child fatality review teams to better understand the value it adds to NVDRS.
  • CDC has begun estimating the cost of fully implementing NVDRS to provide accurate cost-benefit information for decision makers in federal, state, and local entities.

Note: Some of theses links lead outside the CDC site to another federal agency or CDC partner site. Any links from these sites to nonfederal organizations' links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the federal government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.

 
CDC's Planned Activities

  • CDC will continue its work to strengthen the public health infrastructure. CDC will collect and link data about incidents of violent death in the United States.
  • CDC will eventually incorporate NVDRS into the Public Health Information Network (PHIN) to integrate it with other public health surveillance systems. To learn more about PHIN, visit the PHIN website.
  • CDC will use its extramural research program to facilitate analysis and use of NVDRS data.

 

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National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
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4770 Buford Highway NE
Atlanta, GA 30341-3724

Phone: 770.488.4362
Fax: 770.488.4349
Email: OHCINFO@cdc.gov


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This page last reviewed 08/05/04.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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