The Florida Violent Death Reporting System 2019 Data Findings Including a Qualitative Focus on Suicide Deaths of Young Black Males

Abstract

The Florida Violent Death Reporting System (FLVDRS) includes violent death data abstracted from death certificates (DC), medical examiner (ME) reports, and law enforcement (LE) records. Abstractors also produce narratives from the ME and LE information. This manuscript focuses on the findings from the 2019 FLVDRS. Quantitative data were reviewed using SPSS and STATA and MAXQDA was used for the qualitative analysis. Results showed that most deaths were suicides (69.0%). Males comprised most of all the violent deaths (77.4%). Qualitative analysis focused on available narratives of Black males regardless of ethnicity, ages 10–24 years, who died of suicide (n = 19). The most prominent codes from the qualitative analysis included scene location, suicide method, engagement with LE, known history of psychiatric conditions, known history of self-injurious behavior, and recent life events. Subcodes related to the parent codes are also provided for further explanation of the findings. Future research will allow confirmation of findings and development of targeted intervention programs.