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Community Violence

This entry describes the concept of community violence, a research area that began gaining momentum in the early 1990s. The entry first defines the construct and distinguishes it from similar constructs in the field. It then explains why community violence is of concern to researchers and policymakers and traces contemporary research developments in this area.

What Is Community Violence?

Community violence refers to exposure to intentional, interpersonal violent acts experienced directly (i.e., through victimization) or indirectly (i.e., witnessing others being victimized) in a public setting. Acts of community violence vary by severity; the most commonly used measures of community violence exposure include both less severe (e.g., slapping, hitting, punching) and more severe (e.g., getting stabbed with a knife; getting shot with a gun) incidents.

Community violence is distinguished ...

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