Constructing violence as a public health problem

ONCE VIEWED PRIMARILY as a criminal justice problem, violence and its prevention are now often claimed by public health professionals as being within their purview. The author reviewed 282 articles published in public health and medical journals from 1985 through 1995 that discussed violence as a public health problem. She found that while authors tended to identify social and structural causes for violence, they suggested interventions that targeted individuals' attitudes or behaviors and improved public health practice. Her study illuminates the tension between public health professionals' vision of the social precursors of violence and their attempts to apply a traditional set of remedies. In targeting individuals to rid the nation of violence, the public health community is deemphasizing societal causes.