Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28WILLIAM JAMES COLLEGE 9 Looking at age, gender, ethnicity, religion or country of birth, can we predict which young people will commit acts of gun violence? No, we can’t reliably predict which individuals will commit acts of gun violence, although at times we can identify specific individuals who may be at higher risk for immediate violence. We can, however, reliably identify groups with higher or lower risks of engaging particular types of gun violence. For example, suicide by gun is most common among white mid-adolescent males who are also depressed, substance-abusing and stressed. Risks of both homicide perpetration and vic- timization are elevated among disenfranchised urban young adult males of color who live in poverty. But, it is important to recognize that the vast majority of young- er males of all ethnicities and social backgrounds are not involved in significant violence towards themselves or others. This makes it impossible to create a “profile” that can reliably identify specific individuals who will engage in serious violence at all—much less those who will specifically engage in gun violence. A Robert Kinscherff, PhD, JD, is Associate Vice President for Community Engagement at 91�㽶��Ƶ��������, Senior Fellow in Law and Applied Neuroscience for Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Law School, and Senior Associate of the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice. He recently was an invited participant at a summit on community violence at the Obama White House. Rapport asked Dr. Kinscherff to respond to a series of questions we think our readers would find both professionally and personally relevant. Q FACULTY VIEWPOINT A Conversation with Robert Kinscherff about Youthful Gun Violence