Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

The Violent Crime indicator is the annual rate of reported violent crime per 1,000 residents. Violent crime includes murders, forcible rape, robberies, and aggravated assaults. Major risk factors for violence include gender and deviant behaviors, such as using and selling drugs, committing nonviolent felonies, and engaging in other forms of nonviolent delinquency. Low academic orientation, lack of parental affection and support, and perceptions of parents’ substance use also show strong links with violent behavior. Violence has a self-evident relationship to health and is a widely understood, meaningful, and nationally reported metric of community health. According to Dahlberg (1998) four key risk factors are associated with youth violence in United States: individual factors, family factors, peer/school factors, and environment/neighborhood factors. Juvenile offenders, frequently turn into adult offenders. Additionally, being a victim of or witness to violent crime can also have negative effects on mental health, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Posted under the Health Systems and Public Safety domain, the Violent Crime indicator also impacts the Economic Health, Social Cohesion, Employment Opportunities, Educational Opportunities, and Neighborhood Characteristics domains. It is an “inverse” measure, as the higher the crime rate the higher the negative impact on the neighborhood. Crime data is available from the City of Birmingham Police Department.