Educational achievement and youth homicide mortality: a City-wide, neighborhood-based analysis.

Higher educational achievement (operationalized by reading proficiency) predicts reduced homicide mortality among Baltimore youth and appears to mediate effects of familial poverty on homicide mortality as well. This converges with literature highlighting the importance of education as a determinant of social capital and violence. Future policy-based interventions should target inequalities in educational achievement to mitigate homicide risk among youth in communities facing disparities in violent crime.