The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today new state grants for the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). A total of $3.2 million in FY 2018 funds will go to the 10 new states to become part of NVDRS: Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.  NVDRS will now receive data on violent deaths from all 50 states; Washington, DC; and Puerto Rico.

“Americans are dying daily due to violent deaths, but we know these deaths can be prevented,” said Debra Houry, MD, MPH, director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. “The expansion of NVDRS to all states will enhance CDC’s ability to monitor and track trends nationally, as well as inform prevention efforts to reduce violence across America. We all need to be committed to stopping violence before it begins.”

Suicide is among the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States and one of only three that are increasing. Homicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages 15-34.  From infants to the elderly, violence affects people in all stages of life. NVDRS is the only state-based system to combine data from law enforcement, coroners and medical examiners (including toxicology), and vital statistics to obtain the most comprehensive data available on homicides and suicides. NVDRS provides information about who dies violently, where victims are killed, when they are killed, and the circumstances of the death. States can use this data to develop and inform tailored prevention and intervention efforts to reduce violent deaths.

NVDRS Facts:

Frontline investigators, including homicide detectives, coroners, crime lab investigators and medical examiners, collect valuable information about violent deaths. But these data are often not combined in a systematic manner to provide a complete picture.

NVDRS combines these data sources to provide details on demographics, method of injury, the relationship between the victim and the suspect, and information about circumstances such as depression, financial stressors, intimate partner violence, or relationship problems.

NVDRS links multiple deaths that are related to one another to provide more complete information about multiple homicides, suicide clusters, and cases of homicide followed by the suicide of the suspect.

CDC’s Injury Center works to protect the safety of everyone, every day; this includes preventing homicide and suicide and their adverse health consequences to families and communities.

For additional information about NVDRS, please see http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nvdrs/index.html

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES