Students living in a Chicago suburb hear gunfire so regularly while travelling to and from school, academics are working to change the definition of school gun violence in the United States.
The study by The Ohio State University used acoustic sensors that detected the sound of gunfire in the Englewood neighbourhood.
Assistant Professor Gia Barboza-Salerno said the study showed nearly two-thirds of schools in the area had at least one gun incident within 400m of where children were walking home during the 2021-22 school year.
Assistant Professor Barboza-Salerno said the results suggested a need to redefine definitions of school gun violence to include indirect forms of violence that take place near schools.
“Not all the violence children are exposed to is direct violence or happens on school grounds,” she said.
“But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an impact. Hearing gunshots on the way to and from school is terrifying and will affect how kids perform in school.”
Assistant Professor Barboza-Salerno said the findings were important because research showed exposure to gun violence in schools was linked to poor outcomes for students, including diminished performance on standardized assessments in mathematics and English, elevated rates of absenteeism, decreased student enrollment, and lower graduation rates.
“Hearing gunshots during school has not typically been considered ‘school gun violence,’ but it should be.
“Imagine what that is like for children to hear gunshots while walking to school and how scared they must be.”
Assistant Professor Barboza-Salerno said the study found that 4.5 times more gunshots were detected using the acoustic sensors compared to what police recorded in investigative reports.
She said the study analyzed gunshots detected during the morning (6-9 a.m.) and afternoon (3-6 p.m.) commutes of children during the 2021-22 school year.
“Acoustic detectors showed 610 gunshots fired in Englewood on days when schools were in session during the school year.”
Read the full study: Spatial accessibility to gun violence exposure on walkable routes to and from school.
