Giffords Center for Violence Intervention Releases Report on Devastating Toll of Gun Violence in St. Louis County and Recommends Best Practices for the County

Washington DC — Today, Giffords Center for Violence Intervention released a comprehensive report on community violence experienced in St. Louis County, Missouri, with Missouri Foundation for Health. St. Louis County—not to be confused with the City of St. Louis, which is both a city and its own unique county—has an acute gun violence problem. In the report, Giffords Center for Violence Intervention analyzes the scope and nature of community violence in St. Louis County and identifies strategies to be implemented or scaled that can help address violence. The report also identifies public funding streams that could be leveraged to fund those solutions. 

This report is a follow-up to a similar project released by Giffords Center for Violence Intervention earlier this year, which looked specifically at community violence in the City of St. Louis—one of the few cities in the nation to see a significant reduction in homicides and shootings between 2020 and 2021. Taken together, these reports represent a roadmap of regional actions that can and should be taken to make the St. Louis region a safer, more equitable place to live.

The new report about the County of St. Louis can be found here.

“St. Louis County, like many other parts of the country, is experiencing a horrific gun violence epidemic with limited resources to address it. Giffords Center for Violence Intervention was proud to partner with Missouri Foundation for Health to examine the effects of gun violence in the county and offer solutions to address it. Black communities are too often disproportionately affected by gun violence. It’s time for the county, state, federal government, and community to come together to end gun violence in St. Louis County.”

“In order to reduce gun violence in the most effective way possible, we need a solid understanding of existing resources, challenges, and potential solutions. Working with a trusted group like Giffords, we are better positioned as a region to share this new data and activate likely and unlikely partners to address this issue and ultimately save lives.”

• St. Louis County experiences 34% more homicides per capita than the rest of Missouri and more than 2.5 times the national homicide rate.
• The majority of this violence takes place in the North County region, where neighborhoods more closely resemble the segregated, underserved, and majority-Black communities of the northern part of the City of St. Louis. 
• Between 2016 and 2020, St. Louis County averaged nearly 160 homicides per year, almost 90% of which were committed with a firearm.
• In 2020, the most recent year for which the CDC provides data, the county suffered 192 homicides, 94% of which were committed with a gun.
• The county is lacking a meaningful fiscal and strategic commitment to community violence intervention efforts.

The report recommends more than $30 million in investments St. Louis County should make to help dramatically reduce community violence, including:

• Establish a County Office of Violence Prevention to gather and analyze data, coordinate strategies, and offer direct support to organizations providing services that address the root causes of violence.
• Conduct a formal problem analysis and implement a shooting review process to better understand local violence dynamics.
• Expand services for community-based organizations serving people who are at higher risk of experiencing gun violence, with an emphasis on employment, housing, mental and behavioral health, and reentry services. 
• Create pilot programs for 911 diversion, co-responder emergency response, and civilian-only emergency response.
• Create a pilot diversion program for gun-related offenses at the county prosecutor’s office. 
• Remediate vacant lots and buildings in high-violence areas.

St. Louis County faces tremendous challenges when it comes to addressing homicides and shootings, but it also has historic opportunities. There is much left to be done at the county level to improve conditions so that meaningful reductions in community violence can be achieved and sustained—and there is reason to be hopeful that these changes will come. Now is the time for leaders in the St. Louis region to come together to respond to the needs of residents most impacted by daily violence, and Giffords Center for Violence Intervention stands ready to assist with these efforts.

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Our experts can speak to the full spectrum of gun violence prevention issues. Have a question? Email us at media@giffords.org.

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