美国国家公共电台 NPR--Gun assaults on children more than doubled during COVID's height, study finds

Gun assaults² on children more than doubled during COVID's height, study finds

Transcript³

A new study focusing on four major U.S. cities finds gun assaults on children more than doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Black children were the most frequent victims.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Boston University researchers studying four major U.S. cities found that gun assaults on children more than doubled during the height of COVID with a sharp disparity along racial lines. WHYY's Sammy Caiola reports.

SAMMY CAIOLA, BYLINE⁴: The shooting rate for Black children was 100 times higher than the white child's rate for the same period. Those figures come from police and coroner data from Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Study author Jonathan Jay says the team expected to see disparities widen.

JONATHAN JAY: And what we found was that they had, in fact, increased dramatically.

CAIOLA: The rates at which Black children were shot about doubled nationally, while the rates for Latino children increased slightly, and the rates for white children stayed roughly the same. The data only included deaths and injuries from assaults - not accidents or self harm. And it didn't include injuries from Chicago, so Jay says these numbers might actually be an undercount. He says researchers are still unpacking⁵ these trends. They're looking at factors that drive gun violence. That might have been worse in neighborhoods where children of color live.

JAY: Stress associated with job losses, school closures, loss of access to certain kinds of services that closed down during the pandemic, also really visible police violence, especially against people of color.

CAIOLA: Philadelphia's child gun assault¹ rate outpaced the other three cities in the report. Gun violence is concentrated in certain parts of Philadelphia, including North Philly, where Makih Hemphill grew up. He's 16 and Black.

MAKIH HEMPHILL: I still have the thought in the back of my head to, like, protect myself because of how this world is currently⁶. I don't want anything bad to happen to me, and my mother doesn't want anything bad to happen to me either, so...

CAIOLA: He says the pandemic was rough for teens.

HEMPHILL: Everything was confusing. There were so many people in the house. It was loud, but you had to learn at the same time.

CAIOLA: Being stuck at home might have driven some kids to violence.

HEMPHILL: Maybe their home is not their safe place. And something probably, like, is going on at home. And they didn't have that escape because they couldn't leave home. So maybe they had a break or something like that.

CAIOLA: Gun purchases rose in the first year of the pandemic. That makes Kaliek Hayes's job even more important. His nonprofit, the Childhoodslost Foundation, focuses on keeping kids from turning to guns. He says the more guns, the more violence.

KALIEK HAYES: With access create opportunity - it just happens to be negative opportunity. And they're using them.

CAIOLA: Hayes tries to keep them focused on schoolwork and extracurriculars like theater and chess.

HAYES: In communities where it's poverty driven - and again, they're missing all the other elements of just being productive⁷. And then we ask why? I mean, it's a perfect recipe.

CAIOLA: Public health experts say mentorship like Hayes provides, plus better education and trauma⁸ support, are all part of the solution. Dr. Joel Fein at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia says without that kind of investment, health systems will keep seeing higher numbers of child gunshot patients. Fein wants the new study to be a wake-up call for cities everywhere to focus on prevention.

JOEL FEIN: I hope that they understand that the crisis⁹ is not just solved at the very end of the story where you're just preventing that one firearm injury but that it is work done with kids and families before, way before, they get to that point where they're in danger.

CAIOLA: As of 2020, firearms are the leading cause of death for American children nationally, surpassing¹⁰ car crashes for the first time ever, according to the CDC. For NPR News, I'm Sammy Caiola in Philadelphia.

FADEL: This story comes from NPR's partnership¹¹ with WHYY and KFF Health News.

1 assault   

v.猛烈地攻击，袭击；n.突然而猛烈的攻击

参考例句：

• She appeared in court on charges of kidnapping and assault.她因受到拐骗和侵犯人身的指控而出庭。
• The trainees were put through an assault course.受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

2 assaults   

突击

参考例句：

• Both men were charged with assault. 两人均被控侵犯他人身体罪。
• The army renewed its assault on the capital. 军队重新发动对首都的攻击。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 unpacking   

n.取出货物，拆包[箱]v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的现在分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等）

参考例句：

• Joe sat on the bed while Martin was unpacking. 马丁打开箱子取东西的时候，乔坐在床上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They are unpacking a trunk. 他们正在打开衣箱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

7 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。

8 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

9 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

10 surpassing   

adj. 胜过的, 卓越的, 优秀的 动词surpass的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Social research nowadays has a practical urgency surpassing even that of cancer research. 当今社会研究的现实迫切性甚至超过对癌症的研究。
• These adjectives mean surpassing all others in power, influence, or position. 这些形容词的意思是指在力量、影响或地位方面超出其他一切。

11 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。