The aftermath of a murdered child: Trauma in the African American community
David J Thomas
Florida Gulf Coast University, USA
: Forensic Toxicol Pharmacol 2015, 4:4
Abstract
For years the African American Community has screamed that they have been victims of violent crime and the system has ignored them in essence they feels as though they have no value. The African American Community had no voice and was marginalized until acts of police violence began to be broadcast on the World Wide Web and the media. Police have described today’s survivor as “tomorrow’s suspectâ€Â. This study is an examination of the sources of violence in the African American Community; who is most likely to become a victim of gun violence, their rate of exposure and the causes; the symptoms of psychological trauma and trauma related disorders and their impact on the family and the best practices models for prevention, intervention and treatment in such cases.
Biography
David J Thomas is a Retired Police Officer from the Gainesville Police Department. He is an Associate Professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he teaches in the Justice Studies Program and a Senior Research Fellow for the Police Foundation in Washington D.C. He has numerous research interests, authored three books and serves as a Series Editor in Forensic Psychology for Prager Publishing. Finally, because of his research interests, role with the Police Foundation and years of law enforcement and training experience he is a nationally recognized expert in the use of force and police practices.
