Nation gets grade of 'D' for its efforts to reduce violence: American Medical Association

Jet, July 3, 1995

When it comes to our efforts to reduce violence, the United States gets a grade of "D" doctors around the country say.

The low grade comes from the American Medical Association (AMA) which recently released grading on trends, public awareness, treatment and prevention, USA Today reports.

The AMA also examined four areas: family violence, sexual assault, public violence and violence in entertainment.

The AMA noted that a child is abused every 13 seconds and up to 4 million women a year are battered. However, public awareness and access to help have improved.

The AMA said there are better laws to protect victims, but added that social attitudes about the acceptability of forced sex prevail.

In the public violence area, the AMA pointed out that gun related deaths could become the leading cause of injury death soon after the year 2000.

The group also noted kids see 8,000 killings and 100,000 other violent acts before junior high school.