Cohort Study of Downgraded Misdemeanor Convictions and Subsequent Violent Crime: Differences by Defendant Race and Ethnicity.

Introduction: Criminal convictions may be imperfect markers of criminalized behavior, in part because of criminal legal system processes (e.g., plea bargaining).

State Reporting Requirements for Involuntary Holds, Court-Ordered Guardianship, and the US National Firearm Background Check System.

Importance: Firearm violence is a leading cause of death in the US. There is broad public agreement that individuals at high risk of perpetrating violence should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a national system intended to stop firearm purchases or possession by prohibited persons, but there is heterogeneity in how states interact with and report data to NICS.

Misclassification of firearm-related violent crime in criminal legal system records: challenges and opportunities.

Background: Criminal legal system data are one source for measuring some types of firearm-related harms, including those that do not necessarily result in injury or death, but measurement can be hampered by imprecise criminal code statutes. We quantified the degree of misclassification in Washington state criminal codes for measuring firearm-related crime.

Findings: In this study of individuals aged 18 years and older who were convicted of a misdemeanor in Washington Superior Courts from 1/1/2015 through 12/31/2019, we compared firearm-related charges as measured with criminal codes and with manual review of probable cause documents, considered the gold standard.

Use of immigration status for coercive control in domestic violence protection orders.

In the context of domestic violence (DV), immigration-related circumstances can be exploited by an abuser to coerce and manipulate their partner. Using an intersectional structural framework, we examine how social structures overlaid with immigration-specific experiences operate to further enhance opportunities for abuse against immigrant women. We conducted a textual analysis to identify how socially constructed systems interact with a victim-survivor's immigration status to introduce more tools for abusers to engage in coercive control and/or acts of violence in a random sample of petitioners (i.

Implicit Racial and Gender Bias About Handguns: A New Implicit Association Test.

This study measured implicit and explicit racial bias about women and handguns and addressed important perceptions and stereotypes about gun competence and victimization that vary based on race and gender. We administered a national survey to 1,000 US adults using a new Race-Women-Handguns Implicit Association Test (IAT). Survey weighting was used to generate nationally representative estimates on the prevalence of implicit racial bias about women with handguns.

Assessment of Variation in US State Laws Addressing the Prevention of and Response to Teen Dating Violence in Secondary Schools.

Importance: Teen dating violence (TDV) is widespread and has adverse consequences across the life course. Many US states are actively seeking strategies to prevent and address TDV in schools, including enactment and implementation of TDV laws. These state laws are upstream, system-level interventions that lay the foundation for an array of downstream targeted interventions to be deployed in schools.

Relation of Driving Under the Influence Laws to Access to Firearms Across US States.

To determine differences among US states in how driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) laws activate federal firearm possession and purchase prohibitions. We performed primary legislative research to characterize DUI laws in each state. The primary outcome was the number of DUI convictions an individual must be convicted of in each state to activate the federal firearm possession and purchase prohibition.