Costs of Penetrating Injury

• NCJ Number: 151294
• Author(s): T R Miller; M A Cohen
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90-IJ-CX-0050; MCJ-113A36-01
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

The costs of gunshot wounds and of criminally inflicted knife wounds can be considered in terms of health costs, death costs, follow-up care, lost wages, and lost quality of life.

Abstract

The range of costs that result from a penetrating injury can be categorized as emergency services and transport costs, medical care costs, mental health care costs, productivity losses, administrative costs, and costs of individual and family pain and suffering. This paper contains original analyses that estimate the costs of gunshot and knife wounds in the United States. Specifically, the analyses describe costs per injury and cost variations by cause of wounding, the national injury incidence, and the national injury cost. 9 tables, 2 figures, and 30 references