Abstract
Background: Young people who have had contact with the youth justice system have an increased risk of dying from violence. Examining the context of violence-related deaths is essential in informing prevention strategies. We examined the circumstances and toxicology of violence-related deaths among young people who have had contact with the youth justice system in Queensland, Australia. Methods: This data linkage study linked youth justice records from Queensland, Australia (30 June 1993-1 July 2014) on 48,670 young people to national death and coroner records (1 July 2000-1 January 2017). Circumstances and toxicology of deaths were coded from coroner’s records. We calculated the incidence of violence-related deaths that were reported to a coroner. Fisher’s exact tests were used to examine crude differences in the circumstances and toxicology of violence-related death, according to sex and Indigenous status. Results: There were 982 deaths reported to a coroner in the cohort. Of which, 36 (4%) were from violence-related causes (incidence: 6 per 100,000 person-years, 95% confidence interval: 4-8). People who died from violence were most frequently male (n = 28/36; 78%), and almost half were Indigenous (n = 16/36; 44%). The majority of violence-related deaths involved a weapon (n = 24/36; 67%), most commonly a knife (n = 17/36; 47%). Compared to men where the violent incident was most frequently preceded by an altercation (n = 12/28; 43%), for women it was frequently preceded by a relationship breakdown or argument (n < 5; p = 0.004). Substances most commonly present in toxicology reports were cannabis (n = 16/23; 70%) and alcohol (n = 15/23; 65%). Conclusions: Therapeutic alcohol and other drug programs, both in the community and detention, are likely important for reducing violence-related deaths among young people who have had contact with the youth justice system. The majority of violence-related deaths among women were in the context of intimate partner violence, indicating the urgent need for interventions that prevent intimate partner violence in this population. Diversion programs and increased investment in health and social services may reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the youth justice system and in violence-related deaths.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2207 |
| Journal | BMC public health |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2021 |
Funding
The authors would like to thank Claire Keen for her advice and support on data management and cleaning. The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and in no way reflect the view or policies of Queensland Corrective Services, Youth Justice Queensland, or the National Coronial Information System (NCIS). The coroner?s data was received from the NCIS, which is managed by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety. MW is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Postgraduate Scholarship (GNT1151103). JY receives salary and research support from a NHMRC Investigator Grant (GNT1178027). MS is a recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT180100075) funded by the Australian Government. SK receives salary support from a NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (GNT1078168). MW, JY, RB, GP, SS and SK are researchers in the NHMRC-funded Centre of Research Excellence in Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health (GNT 1171981). The funding sources had no involvement in the study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation, writing of the report or decision to submit the article for publication.
Keywords
- Death
- Homicide
- Medio-legal
- Toxicology
- Violence
- Young people
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
