Press Release for the 1999 National Index of Violence and Harm

 
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. -- May 25, 2002 -- Manchester College researchers agree America’s streets are safer from homicides and robberies, but suggest citizens are being hurt more than previously thought in less visible ways.

 For the second consecutive year, researchers Dr. James Brumbaugh-Smith, Dr. Neil Wollman, and Dr. Brad Yoder have released the National Index of Violence and Harm, which compares data from 19 different variables from 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999 -- the most recent years of available data -- to 1995. (2000 data will be available mid or late July.)

 Using 1995 as their baseline and indexing that year at 100 percent, the research team discovered the country’s hungry population had jumped nearly 67 percent from 1995 to 1999.  The homeless population had increased by almost 30 percent.  (Both percentages are consistent, significant trends.)

 The researchers consider the number of hungry and homeless to be a social negligence measurement.  From the period studied, social negligence grew by 21 percent (121.2).  The trio describe social negligence in terms of people who request emergency food (hungry) and shelter (homelessness) as well as people with inadequate health care and education (which typically lead to other harmful effects).

"The overall index divides our variables into two categories:  personal and societal," Dr. Wollman said.  "The Personal Index includes measures traditionally associated with dramatic violence and harm, such as homicides, while the Societal Index includes measures, such as hungry and homeless, that don’t involve physical attacks, but involve individuals being hurt physically or sometimes psychologically.  The latter is not as visible or dramatic as personal violence and harm , but it can be just as devastating and typically affects more people."

 The study’s authors discovered an even larger increase among government indicators, another societal measurement.  Overall, the government indicators have increased 30 percent (130.2) since 1995.  Government indicators include capital punishment, deaths by police intervention, civil rights complaints against the government, and incarcerations for nonviolent offenses.

Still, the researchers did find a number of improvements among other societal indicators.  The trio, for example, found significant decreases in occupational injuries/illnesses (down 22 percent), child abuse/neglect (down nearly 20 percent), and poverty disparity as measured by race (down 14 percent) since 1995.

As for personal indicators, homicides and robberies are down 30 percent and 32 percent, respectively, since 1995, according to their analysis.

The researchers’ analysis reveals that Personal Index measures overall  have decreased significantly since 1995, while the Societal Index has remained relatively stable.

"It’s remained stable because some measures have increased and others have
decreased," Wollman said.  "It’s good, of course, that personal harm has gone down.  Why hasn’t societal harm gone down?  Because our society and societal institutions tolerate some segments of our population being hurt."

 The National Index of Violence and Harm, which the researchers will release annually, is a project of the college’s Peace Studies Institute and Program in Conflict Resolution, the nation’s oldest such program.

 Manchester College -- an independent, liberal arts college located in North Manchester, Ind., and a college of the Church of the Brethren -- offers more than 45 areas of study to more than 1,160 students from 23 states and 29 countries.

Dr. Brumbaugh-Smith is an assistant professor of mathematics, Dr. Wollman is the senior fellow of the college’s Peace Studies Institute and a psychology professor, and Dr. Yoder is a sociology and social work professor.  Wollman is the lead researcher of the index.

The research team is also composed of current or former Manchester College students Dustin Brown, Heidi Gross, Benjamin Long, Amy Fry-Miller, and Justin Peterson.

Visit www.manchester.edu/academic/programs/departments/peace_studies/vi/index.htm for complete details about the index (figures for all variables, methodology, sources utilized for data, etc.).