Lunch & Learn Webinar Series

In August 2020, we launched a new monthly virtual webinar series highlighting emerging research on gun violence through the Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform Program. Each webinar is free and open to the public, join the mailing list to receive invitations for future webinars in this series.

The series builds on the Joyce Foundation’s long history of funding research on gun violence with new data and the latest findings on emerging topics, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gun violence. See our 25 Years of Impactful Grant Making report to learn more about the Foundation's Gun Violence Prevention work.

The recordings of all the past webinars are available below.

Dr. Garen Wintemute, the Baker-Teret Chair in Violence Prevention at the University of California, Davis, and Julia Schleimer, Research Data Analyst with the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis discussed new research released in July on gun violence trends during the COVID-19 pandemic, which found that the surge in firearm purchases during the pandemic is linked to higher rates of firearm violence in the U.S.

The slideshow presented by Julia Schleimer can be found here.

Thomas Abt, author of Bleeding Out and Senior Fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, and Eddie Bocanegra, senior director of the Heartland Alliance, shared research on efforts to stop violence in our cities and how that research plays out on the ground.

Dr. Arielle Sheftall, of Nationwide Children's Hospital, discusses trends in suicide rates, and Dr. David Studdert, of Stanford University, discussed the increased suicide risk associated with handgun ownership, drawing from research findings released this summer in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Links to the slideshow presentations:

• Suicide Deaths by Firearm in Children and Adolescents by Dr. Arielle H. Sheftall
• New evidence on the relationship between handgun ownership & suicide risk by Dr. David Studdert

Daniel Webster and Cass Crifasi, both of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy, discuss how the design and implementation of firearms background checks policies matter by drawing from their new research released this summer in the American Journal of Public Health that compares changes in purchaser licensing laws in CT and MO with comprehensive background checks laws in MD and PA.

The slideshow presented can be viewed here.

The Polling Memo: Key Findings on Public Support for Firearms Licensing mentioned during the webinar can be viewed here.

Featuring guest speakers Catherine Barber, MPA, Senior researcher, Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Research Center; Shani Buggs, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis; and April M. Zeoli, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University.

Speakers shared their perspectives on key issues in gun violence prevention research, including domestic violence, community-based gun violence, and firearm suicide.

The Next 100 Questions: A Research Agenda for Ending Gun Violence report discussed in the webinar can be viewed here.

Dr. David K. Humphreys and Dr. Michelle Degli Esposti discussed their new research on states that have enacted Stand Your Ground policies and demonstrated this policy’s impact on physical injury, violence and crime in those jurisdictions.

The slideshow presented can be viewed here.

To learn more about the Stand Your Ground Research Project, click here.

There is a robust debate underway about the appropriate role of the criminal legal system and its response to gun violence. Concerns about over policing and over incarceration in communities of color are grounded in the lived experience of many Americans. At the same time, data about the system’s response to gun crime is not readily understood or available. Featuring speakers Dr. David Hureau, Dr. David E. Olson, and Dr. Theodore Wilson, II.

During this webinar, the speakers presented and answered questions on new research on the criminal justice system’s response to gun crime in Illinois and New York.

The slideshow presentation can be viewed here.

Learn more on Illinois data here:

• Gun possession arrests in Illinois
• Gun possession arrests in Cook County (Chicago) Illinois

In the U.S., the majority of women murdered by intimate partners are killed with guns, and firearm availability makes abuse far more lethal. Given the role that firearms play in this type of violence, states have responded by enacting laws to restrict abusers’ access to guns. But localities vary in their implementation and enforcement of these measures. Featuring speakers Dr. Shannon Frattaroli and Josh Sugarmann.

During the webinar, we discussed what the evidence tells us about the lethal connection between intimate partner violence and firearms and examine new research on how four states are trying to mitigate this risk.

Speaker presentations and related resources:

• Slideshow presentation by Josh Sugarmann
• Violence Policy Center reports:
  • Data: Female Homicide Victimization by Males
  • Report: When Men Murder Women
  • Report: Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self Defense Gun Use
• Slideshow presentation Shannon Frattaroli
• Frattaroli research study on Implementation and Enforcement Best Practices
• News story: FBI Crime Data Could Go Away For One In Four Police Agencies

Since March 2020, 3.6 million NICS checks have been conducted per month – a 50% increase over the average monthly rate in 2019. In this month's Webinar, researchers from Northeastern and Harvard Universities shared their national survey's preliminary data to answer critical questions about these recent gun buyers, including how many people have become new gun owners over the past year, their demographics, how many and what types of guns they bought, and the reasons why they decided to buy guns. Featuring speakers Dr. Deborah Azrael and Dr. Matthew Miller.

The slideshow presentation can be viewed here.

Dr. Cassasandra Crifasi, Dr. Alexander McCourt, and Dr. Mitchell Doucette from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy discuss the changing legal landscape regarding state concealed carry gun laws, and new research from the Center on the impacts of these changes on violent crime and police-involved shootings.

Slideshow presentation by Dr. Alexander McCourt: Changes to the legal landscape for civilian gun carrying and impacts on violent crime.

Slideshow presentation by Dr. Mitchell L. Doucette: Officer-involved Shootings and Concealed Carry Weapons Permitting Laws, 2014-2020.

Dr. Jeffrey Swanson, Dr. Brett Gardner, Dr. Josie Caves Sivaraman, and Darrell Miller preview the results of an ongoing study examining the rationale for and effectiveness of such laws; describe the relevant statutory landscape in the 50 states; and provide commentary and discuss implications of this research for policy and law, which have been challenged in court in recent years.

The presenters' slideshows have been compiled into one file and can be viewed here.

Recent data suggests that interpersonal violence increased to historic levels in many U.S. cities during the coronavirus pandemic in patterns that may have been influenced and exacerbated by underlying disparities. To understand this dynamic further, researchers with the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, examined 13 major U.S. cities where the burden of violence was highest in 2020 and studied how disparities discovered that year compared to pre-existing disparities in 2018 and 2019.

This webinar previewed the researchers’ findings alongside observations from those working on the ground to examine the implications of these findings on policy and practice. Featuring speakers Julia Schleimer and Arnitta Holliman.

Slideshow presentation by Julia Schleimer can be view here.

For more about the new article in the American Journal of Public Health click here.

Click here for information on the Milwaukee Blueprint for Peace. The Blueprint for Peace is the first of its kind in Milwaukee dedicated to the prevention of multiple forms of violence. It establishes clear direction and a call to action for a public health approach to violence prevention that engages community residents and multiple sectors.

There are an estimated 240 million 911 calls placed annually nationwide, yet little is known about how police interact with communities, or how these interactions impact public safety. During the webinar, panelists previewed new research findings around 911 service calls and discussed new community responder strategies being deployed nationwide to complement existing law enforcement first responses. Featuring speakers Rebecca Neusteter, Ayesha Delany-Brumsey, and Sarah Wurzburg.

The slideshow presentation can be viewed here.

To access the Council of State Governments Justice Center's Expanding First Response toolkit click here. The toolkit serves as a central hub for local communities and states looking to establish or strengthen community responder programs.

Click here to learn more about the upcoming Transform911 Convenings to be held on March 3-4, 2022. These virtual workshops by the University of Chicago Health Lab are open to the public.

Perceptions relating to the risks and benefits of bringing a firearm into the home may play an important role in a person’s decision to own guns, how those firearms are stored, and who else in the home is thought to have ready access to those guns. During this webinar, panelists discuss new research that examines different aspects of firearm-related risk perceptions and access to household firearms. Featuring speakers Ali Rowhani-Rahbar and Carmel Salhi.

The slideshow presentation by Ali Rowhani-Rahbar can be viewed here.

The slideshow presentation by Carmel Salhi can be viewed here.

As explored in our previous (The perceived vs. actual risk of firearm ownership - April 2022), perceptions relating to the risks and benefits of bringing a firearm into the home may play an important role in a person’s decision to own guns. This webinar was a continuation of the initial conversation to discuss two new landmark research studies that further add to a growing body of evidence showing that a gun in the home is associated with higher risks of injury and death. Specifically, researchers discussed new data showing that people living with handgun owners are significantly more likely to die by homicide compared with neighbors in gun-free homes. Researchers also discussed a second study that finds that women who do not own guns but live with adults who do are significantly more likely to die by suicide compared with their female neighbors in gun-free homes. Featuring speakers Dr. David Studdert and Dr. Matthew Miller.

The slideshow presentation by Dr. David Studdert can be viewed here.

The slideshow presentation by Dr. Matthew Miller can be viewed here.

Join our mailing list to receive more information on future sessions.

In light of recent and tragic events, we hosted a special edition of our virtual Lunch & Learn webinar series on Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO). ERPOs – known in some contexts as "red flag laws" – are policies allowing a court to temporarily remove firearms from an individual at risk of hurting themself or others, based on the assessment of loved ones and/or law enforcement.

This webinar featured researchers Joseph Blocher, Jeff Swanson, Garen Wintemute, and April Zeoli who discussed some of the most recent and compelling research on ERPOs. The discussion included a study on the impact of ERPO on gun suicide in Connecticut, a study examining the impact of ERPO on potential mass shootings, and an ongoing multi-state evaluation of the impact of ERPO on suicide risk across states - as well as analysis of the due process implications of ERPO and related policies.

Garen Wintemute also discussed the research on the impact of ERPO on potential mass shootings, as well as three other recent studies on ERPO cited by Dr. Wintemute and a recent memo on the impact of ERPO on mass shootings published by the Violence Prevention Research Center at UC Davis.

Click here to view The Bullet Points Project's website, referenced by Dr. Wintemute.

The epidemic of gun violence continues to take a devastating toll on our communities. In many cities, current levels of gun violence are reaching levels not seen since the 1990s. As policy makers grapple with how best to respond, in late June, the Joyce Foundation issued a new report, Towards a Fair and Just Response to Gun Violence, containing the consensus view on what can be done to address gun violence in a way that is both fair and just. The consensus report represents the views of advocates, prosecutors and defense attorneys, policy experts, researchers, violence intervention practitioners, and members of law enforcement, all experts in their fields who have come together to address some of the hardest questions facing our communities.

Speakers Soledad McGrath, Sheriff Jerry Clayton, and Nick Suplina discussed the report’s three primary recommendations: expanding community-based interventions, emphasizing supply side solutions to gun violence, and refocusing law enforcement’s response to illegal gun possession. Additional sources mentioned during the webinar:

• Racial Equity Impact Assessment Tool for Gun Violence Prevention
• Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research report “Managing Multiple Pandemics: How Street Outreach Workers Are Addressing Gun Violence and COVID-19”

Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO) policies allow a court to temporarily remove firearms from an individual who may be at the risk of danger to themselves or others. As the use of ERPOs has increased in recent years, researchers and policy makers alike have begun to consider questions of equity in how communities perceive and use these orders. This issue has become particularly timely as states consider how to apply for and use new funding for ERPO implementation that was made available under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

During this webinar, UC Davis researchers Veronica Pear and Julia Schleimer discussed the results of new research that examines differences in perception and use of ERPOs in relation to race and ethnicity and will consider earlier research on ERPO through a racial equity lens. Silvia Villarreal of Johns Hopkins discussed the Center for Gun Violence Solutions' Racial Equity Impact Assessment Tool.

You can view the slideshow presentations here and here.

Illinois has among the strongest gun safety laws in the country. However, as gun deaths across the US continue to climb, policy makers are exploring more ways to further reduce firearms injury and death.

During this webinar, researchers from Johns Hopkins University discussed new research and analysis on the state of firearms policy in Illinois, including recommendations across the following policy areas: 1) Firearm Restraining Orders, 2) Firearm Owner’s Identification (“FOID”) Cards, 3) Large Capacity Magazines, and 4) Gun Trafficking.

In addition, gun violence prevention advocates from One Aim Illinois and Live Free Illinois discussed how these recommendations can inform the implementation of current policy and how complementary investments in community violence intervention can further reduce gun violence.

A special thank you to the panelists Yolanda Androzzo, Rev. Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, Tim Carey, and Lisa Geller.

The term “community violence intervention” (CVI) refers to an array of public safety strategies that aim to reduce gun violence through direct engagement and intervention with the small numbers of people most vulnerable to becoming victims and/or perpetrators of interpersonal gun violence. Since 2020, the federal government has made public funds available to support CVI at an unprecedented scale. Through new legislation such as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), new federal guidance on the use of existing grant streams across five federal agencies, and the creation of a new CVI funding program in the Department of Justice, CVI practitioners now—at least theoretically—have access to a wide array of federal funds.

During this webinar, researchers Amanda Kass and Philip Rocco discussed the preliminary results of ongoing research at DePaul and Marquette Universities that examines barriers to and facilitators of the use of these public dollars for CVI, looking specifically at 13 of the 16 cities included in the White House Community Violence Intervention Collaborative and 13 matched comparison cities.

The slideshow presentation by the panelists can be viewed here.

The history of the U.S. criminal justice system is marked by racial inequality and sustained by present day policy. Large racial and ethnic disparities exist across the several stages of criminal legal processing, including in arrests, pre-trial detention, and sentencing and incarceration, among others, with Black, Latino, and Native Americans experiencing worse outcomes. Recently, The National Academies Committee on Law and Justice released its report Reducing Racial Inequalities in Crime and Justice (interactive version available here), in which committee members performed the most comprehensive review to-date to explain why such large racial inequalities exist and to offer evidence-informed advice on how to reduce those inequalities.

During this webinar, a part of the committee highlighted what they learned in their review, and discussed evidence informed policies and practices that may aid in reducing the harms and racial disparities in the criminal justice system’s response to gun violence. The presenters also discussed disparities as they appear in victimization, arrests and overall involvement with the criminal justice system; the drivers of these inequalities; and most importantly the policy and practice approaches to reducing these inequalities and disparities.

See the panelists' full presentation here. A special thank you to the panelists Nikki Jones, Tracey L. Meares, Nancy Rodriguez, María B. Vélez, and Bruce Western.

In recent years, crime and public safety has become a top issue of concern among policy makers, researchers, advocates, and communities. Increases in crime, in particular shootings and homicides, have put urgent pressure on policy makers to develop and find solutions to this crisis, leading many to suggest that a broader reimagining of public safety may be necessary.

In this webinar, researchers present findings of new nationwide public opinion poll of likely voters on their views of various approaches to addressing public safety issues. The results are expected to include data on voter’s views on police, crisis response, 911 dispatch, and community violence intervention strategies, among others. The presenters will also discuss the challenges that lie ahead as communities continue to grapple with how to improve public safety while working to minimize the potential harms of the justice system.

See the panelists' full presentation here. A special thank you to the panelists Celinda Lake and Brian Nienaber.

The new dashboard, which pulls information from the Michigan Violent Death Reporting System (MiVDRS), currently includes data from 2014 through 2020, including statistics and circumstances about homicides, suicides, firearm-related deaths, intimate partner homicides, child deaths and more. The dashboard then visualizes key data points about those deaths throughout the state, including trends in death counts and death rates. It allows users to filter by several variables, including year, manner of death, victim demographics and weapon used to understand specific aspects of violent death. Importantly, the dashboard allows users to sort this data down to the county level.

While this violent death data has been collected in Michigan for several years, it was not widely available to the public until the release of this tool. The dashboard could be used by policymakers, state and local violence and suicide prevention practitioners, public health researchers and community health advocates to identify trends and patterns in violent deaths in the state and their jurisdictions. They can then use this information to develop new policy and practice strategies to prevent future deaths and injuries.

Special thanks to the panelists Natasha Bagdasarian, Patricia K. Smith, M.S., and Nasir Husain.

In recent years, policy makers have explored the use of targeted diversion programs to reduce gun violence, enhance public safety, and develop new alternatives to incarceration. An example of such an innovation are prosecutor led gun diversion programs, programs that divert people charged with illegal gun possession or other gun-related offenses from traditional court proceedings in exchange for taking part in a special program that will result in charge dismissal upon successful program completion.

During this webinar, researchers from The Marron Institute and the Smart Decarceration Project housed at the University of Chicago present new findings from evaluations of two such prosecutor led gun diversion programs: in Brooklyn, New York, and Minneapolis, Minnesota respectively. Presenters talk through the development, challenges, and promise of these programs and what this new research has to say about how other jurisdictions might use this approach to address gun violence.

See the panelists' presentation here and here. Special thanks to the panelists Angela Hawken, PhD and Matt Epperson, PhD, MSW.

Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO) policies allow a court to temporarily remove firearms from an individual who may be at risk of danger to themselves or others. More than 20 states now have an ERPO policy, but usage varies dramatically across states and communities.

During this webinar, panelists Ruhi Bengali and Lisa Geller presented a new report, co-authored by Everytown for Gun Safety and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, that details promising practices for policymakers and practitioners alike in implementing Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO) policies more effectively. This report comes as states now have access to new federal funding for ERPO under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, providing significant opportunities for states to improve the implementation of ERPO and fully realize the lifesaving potential of this policy.

See the panelists' presentation here. A recent op-ed by Lisa Geller and colleague Spencer Cantrell entitled A Critical Opportunity for Extreme Risk Protection Order Implementation can be found here.

A special thank you to the panelists Ruhi Bengali and Lisa Geller.

In recent years, crime and public safety has become a top issue of concern among policy makers, researchers, advocates, and communities. Increases in crime, in particular shootings and homicides, have put urgent pressure on policy makers to develop and find solutions to this crisis, leading many to suggest that a broader reimagining of public safety may be necessary.

In April of this year, The Joyce Foundation released a national public opinion research project exploring the public’s views of, and reaction to, different ways of addressing public safety beyond traditional policing. Conducted by Lake Research Partners, and The Tarrance Group between January 30 - February 9, 2023, the project included a national survey, demographic oversamples of Black and Latinx voters, and state oversamples in Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan.

During this briefing, researchers Celinda Lake and Brian Nienaber presented data specific to the state of Illinois. The results include data on Illinois voters’ views on police, crisis response, 911 dispatch, and community violence intervention strategies, among others. Watch the full recording below.

In recent years, crime and public safety has become a top issue of concern among policy makers, researchers, advocates, and communities. Increases in crime, in particular shootings and homicides, have put urgent pressure on policy makers to develop and find solutions to this crisis, leading many to suggest that a broader reimagining of public safety may be necessary.

In April of this year, The Joyce Foundation released a national public opinion research project exploring the public’s views of, and reaction to, different ways of addressing public safety beyond traditional policing. Conducted by Lake Research Partners, and The Tarrance Group between January 30 - February 9, 2023, the project included a national survey, demographic oversamples of Black and Latinx voters, and state oversamples in Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan.

During this briefing, researchers Daniel Gotoff and Brian Nienaber presented data specific to the state of Minnesota. The results include data on Minnesota voters’ views on police, crisis response, 911 dispatch, and community violence intervention strategies, among others. Watch the full recording below.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) is a public health surveillance system that includes information about homicides, legal intervention deaths, suicides, deaths of undetermined intent that may be due to violence, and unintentional firearm deaths. Expanded nationwide in 2018, NVDRS is the only state-based surveillance (reporting) system that pools more than 600 unique data elements from multiple sources into an anonymous database to inform policy makers, researchers, and community.

In recent years, CDC has expanded ways that NVDRS data is now available to researchers and the public. A recent innovation has been the development of the NVDRS Restricted Access Database, or RAD, which provides to qualified researchers de-identified, multi-state, case-level dataset comprised of hundreds of unique variables at no cost.

This webinar featured the experiences and work of three researchers who used NVDRS data in their work, and discussed how other researchers can access the RAD.

As the United States continues to grapple an epidemic of gun injuries and deaths, a growing number of policymakers have weighed the creation of new local, state and federal infrastructure specifically charged with reducing gun violence. Alongside police departments and other traditional institutions of the criminal justice system, these Offices of Violence Prevention or Offices of Neighborhood Safety are increasingly tasked with leveraging public resources to prevent and intervene in gun violence – but little is known about how these offices are staffed, resourced and managed; how they work within existing governmental structures; and what potential they have to improve governmental approaches to public safety.

During this webinar, Daniela Gilbert, MPA and Sasha Cotton discussed the newly released report Coordinating Safety: Building and Sustaining Offices of Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Safety. The report deeply examines the current landscape of Offices of Violence Prevention throughout the country and identifies a series of policy recommendations for maximizing the impact of these offices on community safety.

Click here to view the slideshow presentation.

Cities across the U.S. have embarked on efforts to reimagine public safety with the overarching goal of rethinking the justice system's response to gun violence. The gun violence and harm caused by the criminal justice system are not experienced equally. People of color are often the ones who endure the harm of both. It further alienates communities of color and leads to distrust in the legitimacy of the system, which extends to public defense. They feel disconnected from public defenders even though their role is to bring about more just outcomes for poor defendants. The fractured relationship compounds existing mistrust and leaves communities in a perpetual cycle of crime, violence, and incarceration.

During the webinar, panelists discussed the new report Reimagining Public Safety: Community Listening Sessions with Black Communities and Defenders. In this report, The Black Public Defenders Association, BlackRoots Alliance, Cook County Public Defender, and Northwestern University interviewed 100 Black Chicagoans about what they need to feel safe and thrive in the context of ever-present gun violence and examined their relationship with public defenders. The findings of this project aim to help policymakers, funders, activists, and community groups build sustainable public safety reforms built on responsiveness to community needs in Chicago and across the nation.

Thank you to the panelists Mary Pattillo, Gabby Green, Takenya Nixon, and Alaina Bloodworth.

Click here to view the slideshow presentation.