JH-IIRU Faculty Publishes Issue Brief for Small Arms Survey

JH-IIRU faculty member, Kavi Bhalla, along with associates from the Small Arms Survey and the South African Research Council, among others, published a paper in the November 2012 issue of Small Arms Survey. The article, “Tracking National Homicide Rates” analyzes the regional availability and quality of death registration data for estimating the national instance of homicides.

Because violent deaths make up a substantial proportion of global mortality and morbidity, the availability of high-quality homicide estimates from the health sector can aid the process of validating crime data. This kind of substantiated information carries significant importance when encouraging decision-makers to prioritize violence prevention in national health policy.

However, the quality of death registration data can vary substantially among countries, so it is important to test certain aspects of its quality. It is important for researchers to validate official statistics of reported crimes by comparing them with estimates calculated using alternate sources. The results of applying such quality tests to global death registration data are outlined in the Issue Brief.

To access the full article, click here: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/G-Issue-briefs/SAS-AVD-IB1-tracking-homicide.pdf

To learn more about the Small Arms Survey, a public source of information on small arms and armed violence from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, click here: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/home.html