Urban Gun Violence

Melvin Delgado, PhD, is Professor of Social Work at Boston University School of Social Work. He is the former Chair of the Department of Macro Practice there. He has 40 years of practice, research, and scholarship published on urban population groups with focused work with the Latinx community. Delgado has focused his professional and academic career on developing urban-based outreach, research, and service-delivery models stressing participatory democratic principles. His work tackles a variety of social issues, and he has published numerous articles and 30 books on topics surrounding urban community practice. He is currently the Series Editor for Social Justice and Youth Community Practice (Oxford University Press).

• Dedication & AcknowledgmentsPreface Section 1: Urban Gun ViolenceChapter 1: Overview and ContextChapter 2: An Overview of Urban Self Help OrganizationsChapter 3: Three Case Illustrations (Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C.) Section 2: Multifaceted DimensionsChapter 4: Understanding the Crisis of Urban Gun ViolenceChapter 5: Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural PerspectivesChapter 6: Approaches to Preventing and Intervening with Gun ViolenceChapter 7: Cross-Cutting ThemesChapter 8: Recommendations for Education, Research, and Community PracticeEpilogue ReferencesIndex

This book thoroughly reviews the abundant and depressing statistical evidence of the immense magnitude of the urban gun violence problem and its connections to homicides, accidental shootings, and suicides, sidestepping the problem of guns and domestic violence. Delgado also employs his immense knowledge of and expertise with self-help groups to illustrate many ways in which communities can marshal their human resources to mitigate urban gun violence. This clearly written book deserves a wide readership.