Age Disparities of Non-Fatal Shooting Victims in Official vs. Media Reports 2020 – 2022 Indianapolis, Indiana.

Abstract

BACKGROUND Trends in the victimology of non-fatal shootings in Indianapolis reported upon by the media differ from official records, with possible implications on the preventative measures taken by the community and officials. OBJECTIVE Examine disparities between media reporting of non-fatal shooting victim ages and official records. KEY FINDINGS Since data collection of media reporting on gun violence victims in Indianapolis began in 2020, 46% of non-fatal shooting victims were reported on by the media. Of those, 9% of victims had a known age. From 2020 through 2022, juvenile victims of non-fatal shootings were 5.8 times more likely to be reported upon than adult victims. An average of 35% of juvenile victims were reported about in the media from 2020 through 2022 while 6% of adult victims were reported upon. The media was 5.3 times more likely to report on juvenile victims than adult victims in 2022 – 32% of juvenile victims were reported on while 6% of adult victims were reported on in 2022. Official records show approximately 89% of non-fatal shooting victims in the past 3 years are adults while 11% are juveniles. Among media reports of non-fatal shooting victims when age was known, 58% were adults and 42% were juveniles.