Decades of neglect lead to half of Chicagoans seeing shooting before 40: research

NEW YORK - Recent research showing half of people from Chicago, the third most populous city in the United States, witnessed a shooting by the time they turned 40 is further proof of how gun violence is borne out of systemic neglect of Black and Brown neighborhoods, reported Block Club Chicago on Monday.

Twenty-five percent of the white Chicagoans surveyed said they had witnessed a shooting before they turned 40, while 56 percent of Black and Latino Chicagoans had seen a shooting at that age, the report said.

About 7.5 percent of Black respondents and 7 percent of Latino respondents said they'd been shot themselves by age 40, compared to 3 percent of white respondents, according to the survey.

In the study, lead researcher Charles Lanfear said long-term exposure to gun violence can lower life expectancy and diminish life prospects, ranging from people having lower test scores to diminished life and increased risk of heart disease.

The study, published this month, explored the disparities by age, race and gender in who was most likely to have witnessed a shooting.

Researchers from University of Cambridge, and Oxford and Harvard universities followed 2,418 Chicagoans, split among groups of people born in 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1996. The study was conducted over 25 years, according to the report.