Watts Briefly

An ASU database that catalogues violent deaths in Arizona with demographic information on suicides and homicide is now updated with new data and features to enhance usability, the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice-based Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety announced. 

Created in August 2024, the Arizona Violent Death Reporting System (AZ-VDRS) Dashboard now includes these upgrades to access:

• A new “Latest Data” tab that provides suicide and homicide data as recently as one month before a user’s visit, said CVPCS research analyst Jordan Batchelor. “Users can select a custom time range to view statistics on total violent deaths, with breakdowns by month, county of injury and city of injury. Filters are available for race, ethnicity and sex of decedents,” Batchelor said.
• A second new tab, called “Download Data,” lets users create a custom table by selecting a time range and up to eight variables of interest. The table can then be downloaded to one’s computer for further analysis, Batchelor said.
• A third new tab, “Interactive AZ Maps,” includes five interactive maps displaying social, demographic and health data related to military veterans in Arizona.The maps were developed by a research team in the ASU College of Health Solutions.

All other data and features in the previous AZ-VDRS dashboard remain available in the updated version, Batchelor said, including the ability to customize figures to learn how violent deaths break down by demographics, precipitating circumstances, geography and more.

Access the dashboard at azvdrs.org/dashboard.

Join a live audience Feb. 27 to hear School of Criminology and Criminal Justice Assistant Professor Abigail Henson (right) and her guest – somatic practitioner, political organizer and author Prentis Hemphill – talk about “Transform Pain with Presence: How Listening to Your Body Fosters Connection,” in a live episode of Henson’s “Yes, and…” podcast.

Hemphill is the author of the 2024 Penguin Random House book, “What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World.”

“The conversation will be centered on community building, embodiment and staying motivated in uncertain and seemingly chaotic times. It’ll be a very timely discussion,” Henson said. Listeners will be taught skills to engage in deeper, more meaningful conversations and better connect with those around them, she said.

Join Henson and Hemphill at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Feb. 27, at Walter Studios, 747 W. Roosevelt St. (at 7^th Avenue) in downtown Phoenix. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. with a set by DJ J-ME LEE. Admission is free, but registration is required.                    

ASU student leaders, faculty and staff volunteers with the Watts College-based Congressman Ed Pastor Center for Politics and Public Service and other university partnershelped more than 1,600 people get assistance in registering to vote in 2024 through TurboVote, Democracy Works reported.

Democracy Works is a nonpartisan nonprofit that offers voting guidance through its sites, apps and groups, including TurboVote. With the ASU TurboVote platform, sponsored by the Pastor Center, ASU units and student organizationssigned up 4,506 new TurboVote users, 1,625 of whom received voter registration assistance, Democracy works reported. Meanwhile, 3,425 new and existing users who signed up through the Pastor Center checked their registration center using TurboVote.

TurboVote sent nearly 113,000 election reminders via email and texts to these users.