2019-01334. Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations  

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    AGENCY:

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

    ACTION:

    Notice with comment period.

    SUMMARY:

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled “School-Associated Violent Deaths Surveillance System (SAVD.” The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) requested assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) to establishing an ongoing surveillance Start Printed Page 2515system of school-associated violent deaths (SAVD) in the United States in order to track and monitor school-associated violence, particularly homicides and suicides that occur in schools on an ongoing basis.

    DATES:

    CDC must receive written comments on or before April 8, 2019.

    ADDRESSES:

    You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2018-0119 by any of the following methods:

    • Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    • Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.

    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments to Regulations.gov.

    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

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    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

    To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: omb@cdc.gov.

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    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below.

    The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:

    1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

    4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

    5. Assess information collection costs.

    Proposed Project

    School Associated Violent Death Surveillance System ((0920-0604, expiration 05/31/2019)—Revision—National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    Background and Brief Description

    The Division of Violence Prevention (DVP), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) proposes to maintain a system for the surveillance of school-associated homicides and suicides. The system relies on existing public records and interviews with law enforcement officials and school officials. The purpose of the system is to (1) estimate the rate of school-associated violent death in the United States and (2) identify common features of school-associated violent deaths. The system will contribute to the understanding of fatal violence associated with schools, guide further research in the area, and help direct ongoing and future prevention programs.

    Violence is the leading cause of death among young people, and increasingly recognized as an important public health and social issue. In 2016, over 3,600 school-aged children (5 to 18 years old) in the United States died of violent deaths due to suicide, homicide, and unintentional firearm injuries. The vast majority of these fatal injuries were not school associated. However, whenever a homicide or suicide occurs in or around school, it becomes a matter of particularly intense public interest and concern. NCIPC conducted the first scientific study of school-associated violent deaths (SAVD) during the 1992-99 academic years to establish the true extent of this highly visible problem. Despite the important role of schools as a setting for violence research and prevention interventions, relatively little scientific or systematic work has been done to describe the nature and level of fatal violence associated with schools. Until NCIPC conducted the first nationwide investigation of violent deaths associated with schools, public health and education officials had to rely on limited local studies and estimated numbers to describe the extent of school-associated violent death.

    SAVD is an ongoing surveillance system that draws cases from the entire United States in an attempt to capture all cases of school-associated violent deaths that have occurred. Investigators review public records and published press reports concerning each school-associated violent death. For each identified case, investigators also contact the corresponding law enforcement agency and speak with an official in order to confirm or reject the case as an SAVD, and to request a copy of the official law enforcement report for confirmed SAVD cases. In past years, investigators would interview an investigating law enforcement official (defined as a police officer, police chief, or district attorney), and a school official (defined as a school principal, school superintendent, school counselor, school teacher, or school support staff) who were knowledgeable about the case in question; however, moving forward, the interviews with these respondents will be eliminated, and instead CDC study personnel will abstract data from law enforcement reports to enter using a Data Abstraction Tool. Data to be abstracted from the law enforcement report include the following: Information on both the victim and alleged offender(s)— including demographic data, their criminal records, and their relationship to one another; the time and location of the incident precipitating the fatality; the circumstances, motive, and method of the fatal injury; and the security and violence prevention activities in the school and community where the death occurred, before and after the fatal injury event. The revised data collection process eliminating the use of telephone interviews will reduce respondents' burden greatly.

    All data are secured through the use of technical, physical, and administrative controls. Hard copies of data are kept under lock and key in secured offices, located in a secured facility that can be accessed only by presenting the appropriate credentials. Digital data are password protected and then stored (and backed up routinely) onto a secure Local Area Network that can only be accessed by individuals who have been appropriately authorized. Study data are reported in the aggregate, such that no individual case can be identified from the reports. Start Printed Page 2516There are no costs to the respondents other than their time.

    Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

    Type of respondentForm nameNumber of respondentsNumber of responses per respondentAverage burden per response (in hours)Total burden hours (in hours)
    Law Enforcement OfficerLaw Enforcement Case Confirmation Script5015/604
    Letter to Local Law Enforcement Officials50115/6013
    Total17
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    Jeffrey M. Zirger,

    Acting Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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    [FR Doc. 2019-01334 Filed 2-6-19; 8:45 am]

    BILLING CODE 4163-19-P

Document Information

Published:
02/07/2019
Department:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Entry Type:
Notice
Action:
Notice with comment period.
Document Number:
2019-01334
Dates:
CDC must receive written comments on or before April 8, 2019.
Pages:
2514-2516 (3 pages)
Docket Numbers:
60-Day-19-0604, Docket No. CDC-2018-0119
PDF File:
2019-01334.Pdf