Virginia Violent Death Reporting System

Background

There are roughly 50,000 violent deaths per year in the United States; between 1,200 and 1,300 of these occur in Virginia. At the same time, there is limited information about the specific circumstances of such deaths or their implications for public health planning, policy development, and injury prevention efforts.

Beginning in 2003, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner implemented the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and operating currently in 17 states, the goal of the NVDRS is to establish a national violent death surveillance system. This data system links information about violent deaths – homicides, suicides, accidental firearm deaths, legal interventions, undetermined deaths, and deaths due to acts of terrorism – from sources such as forensic pathology, law enforcement, forensic science, and vital records.

Virginia’s medical examiner system was one of the first six states, and the first state-wide medical examiner system, to implement the project. The Virginia Violent Death Reporting System (VVDRS) is the operation and reporting system of the NVDRS within Virginia, and uses the methodology, definitions, coding schema, and software application (database) of the NVDRS.

Activities

Compiling all information sources from violent death investigation and correlating victims with circumstances such as drug and alcohol use, mental illness, intimate partner violence, and the other issues that lead up to and contribute to violent death.
Supporting government and other policy makers as they attempt to understand the extent of the violence problem, develop public health interventions, and evaluate violence prevention program efforts.

Educating the general public.

Generating timely, useful, and detailed information about violent death events at the local, state, and national levels.

Helping to develop, inform, and evaluate injury and violence prevention policy and strategies.

Partners

The following collaborative partners support the efforts of the VVDRS through information sharing:
The Division of Forensic Science, Virginia Department of Criminal Justice
The Center for Health Statistics, Virginia Department of Health
Office of Vital Records, Virginia Department of Health
Virginia’s local law enforcement departments
Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police
Virginia Sheriffs’ Association and Institute
Virginia State Police
Virginia Department of Social Services
Virginia’s local departments of social services