Carter, P. M., Dora-Laskey, A. D., Goldstick, J. E., Heinze, J. E., Walton, M. A., Zimmerman, M. A., Roche, J.S., & Cunningham, R. M. (2018). Arrests among high-risk youth following emergency department treatment for an assault injury. American journal of preventive medicine, 55(6), 812-821.
Abstract
Introduction: Violence is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for youth, with more than 600,000 emergency department visits annually for assault-related injuries. Risk for criminal justice involvement among this population is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to characterize arrests among high-risk, assault-injured, drug-using youth following emergency department treatment.
Methods: Youth (aged 18-24 years) with past 6-month drug use who were seeking emergency department treatment for either an assault or for non-violence reasons were enrolled (December 2009-September 2011) in a 2-year longitudinal study. Arrests in the 24 months following the emergency department visit were analyzed in 2016-2017 using survival analysis of objective Law Enforcement Information Network data. Hazard ratios quantifying the association between risk factors for arrest were estimated using Cox regression.
Results: In the longitudinal cohort, 511 youth seeking emergency department care (assault injury group n=299, comparison group n=212) were aged ≥18 years and were included for analysis. Youth in the assault injury group cohort had a 47% higher risk of arrest than the comparison group (38.1% vs 25.9%, RR=1.47, p<0.05). In unadjusted analyses, male sex, assault injury, binge drinking, drug use disorder, and community violence exposure were all associated with increased risk of arrest during the follow-up period. Cox regression identified that male sex (hazard ratio=2.57), drug use disorder diagnosis (hazard ratio=1.42), assault injury at baseline (hazard ratio=1.63), and community violence exposure (hazard ratio=1.35) increased risk for arrest.
Conclusions: Drug-using assault-injured youth have high rates of arrest. Emergency department and community interventions addressing substance use and violence involvement may aid in decreasing negative violence and criminal justice outcomes among high-risk youth.
Trial registration: This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT01152970.