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Do criminals go to the hospital when they are shot?

¹ South Florida Reception Center, Miami, Florida
² Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
³ Community Education Department, Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana

Correspondence to:
Dr John P May, Medical Director, South Florida Reception Center, 14000 NW 41st Street, Miami, FL 33178, USA;
Drjpmay{at}aol.com

ABSTRACT
Objectives: To determine whether criminals go to the hospital when they are shot. Such information is needed to check on the accuracy of using hospital emergency room data to estimate non-fatal gunshot wounds.

Setting: Five jails across the US.

Methods: A survey of inmates being booked into jail, administered by in-house health care staff.

Results: Over 90% of over 300 criminals who had been wounded sometime before their incarceration reported going to a hospital for treatment after being shot. These results are consistent with previous findings from one jail.

Conclusions: Jail inmates who had previously been shot were likely to have been treated in a hospital. This limited finding is consistent with the proposition that hospital/emergency department data may miss only a small percentage of gunshot wounds to criminals.

Keywords: gunshot; wounding; jail; surveillance; criminals; firearms

Abbreviations: NEISS, National Electronic Injury Surveillance System; NFISS, National Firearm Injury Statistical System

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