Fixing windows, clearing lots reduces gun violence

Repairing abandoned buildings and clearing vacant lots reduces gun violence by as much as 39 percent, according to a study published recently in the American Journal of Public Health.
Numerous studies by Penn Medicine, an academic medical center, have associated blight remediation with a reduction in violent crime. But this latest study, from researchers at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, is the first to report the cost-benefit and percentage reduction estimates for urban blight and firearm violence.
Each dollar spent repairing abandoned buildings and vacant lots yields, respectively, a $5 and $26 return on investment to taxpayers, and a $79 and $333 return on investment to society at large, according to the study. These steps include installing working windows and doors in abandoned buildings, removing trash and debris, and planting grass and trees.
Gun violence in the United States is higher than in any other developed nation, and the majority of fatal violence committed in the United States involves firearms. Every year about 100,000 people are shot in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“The immeasurable pain and void left when lives are lost to firearm violence sends a ripple effect through families and neighborhoods,” said the study’s lead author Charles C. Branas, PhD, a professor of Epidemiology and director of the Penn Urban Health Lab. “This study demonstrates sustainable, replicable strategies that successfully reduce firearm violence. They can transform communities across the country, save lives, and provide well more than a full return on investment to tax payers and their communities.”
This study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Source: Penn Medicine: uphs.upenn.edu