The public health and social consequences of black male violence

Abstract

There is no simple solution toward the prevention and reduction of black male violence. The fact that the high rates of black male violence are the result of multiple causes strongly suggest that a multisolution violence prevention agenda should be developed and implemented throughout the nation. An aggressive but narrowly focused criminal justice response will not work. Failure to address “the causes” of black male violence and its public health and social consequences will only lead to greater entrenchment of the social conditions and dysfunctional adaptative responses that precipitate the concentration of interpersonal violence in urban poor black communities.