
Jeffrey Swanson is Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. He is a faculty affiliate of the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law School, the Center for Firearms Law at Duke Law School, and the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke Sanford School of Public Policy. Swanson holds a PhD in sociology from Yale University. He is a social scientist researcher who collaborates across disciplines to build evidence for interventions, policies and laws to improve outcomes for adults with serious mental illnesses in the community, and to reduce firearm-related violence and suicide. He is an author of over 240 publications on subjects including the social environmental context of violence in mental illness, implementation of state firearm restrictions related to mental health adjudications, effectiveness of involuntary outpatient commitment, and psychiatric advance directives. Swanson lead the research group that published the first empirical evaluations of risk-based, temporary firearm removal laws in Indiana and Connecticut, precursors to Extreme Risk Protection Order laws that were later adopted in many states. He received the 2020 Isaac Ray Award from the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law for outstanding contributions to the psychiatric aspects of jurisprudence. He received the 2011 Carl Taube Award from the American Public Health Association for outstanding contributions to mental health services research. Swanson serves on the Executive Steering Committee of the Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy. He previously served as a member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mandated Community Treatment and the Methods Core of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Research Program. He has delivered numerous endowed lectures including the P. Browning Hoffman Memorial Lecture in Law and Psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Law; the Raymond W. Waggoner Lecture on Ethics and Values in Medicine at the University of Michigan; the Paul Mendelsohn, MD, Memorial Lecture in Psychiatry and the Law at the Tufts School of Medicine; the Sherwood B. Winslow, MD, Distinguished Lecture at the Battle Creek Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan; and the L. Douglas Lenkoski, MD, Lecture in Community Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Swanson frequently comments on gun violence in the national media and serves as a consultant to policymakers at the federal and state levels.
Education and Training
- Ph.D., Yale University, 1985
- M.A., Yale University, 1980
In the News
- Risk Warrants: A New Tool for Keeping Guns Out of Dangerous HandsMarch 8, 2018
- One States Temporary Gun Removal Law Shows Promise in Preventing SuicidesNovember 17, 2016
- Laws that allow for temporarily removing guns from high-risk people linked to a reduction in suicidesSeptember 8, 2016
- Jeffrey Swanson: The problem with trying to solve gun violence by going after the mentally illJune 7, 2016
- Untangling gun violence from mental illnessJune 7, 2016
- The Link Between Mental Illness, Guns & SuicideJune 7, 2016
- Suicide is ‘forgotten’ in the campus carry debate, researchers sayApril 15, 2016
- Jeffrey Swanson comments: Majority of gun deaths in U.S. are suicidesJanuary 15, 2016
- Jeffrey Swanson comments: How politics trumps science when it comes to U.S. gun violenceJanuary 12, 2016
- Jeffrey Swanson comments: N.C. doubles reporting of mentally ill to federal gun databaseDecember 17, 2015
- Since Sandy Hook, an American kid has died by a gun every other dayDecember 14, 2015
- Jeffrey Swanson: What (little) we know about couples who kill, like Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen MalikDecember 4, 2015
- Jeffrey Swanson comments: Why can't we study gun violence?November 4, 2015
- Jeffrey Swanson comments: Mass murderers fit profile, as do many others who don’t killOctober 5, 2015
- Jeffrey Swanson: Why the U.S. has done almost nothing to stop mass shootingsOctober 5, 2015
- Duke professor says systemic issues in mental health system are ignoredJuly 28, 2015
- Mass shootings: Debate is about gun availability vs. mental healthJuly 27, 2015
- Jeffrey Swanson: Inside the mind of someone like Dylann RoofJune 24, 2015
- Editorial: To reduce gun violence, tighten gun ownership standardsApril 23, 2015
- Nearly 1 in 10 Americans have severe anger issues and access to gunsApril 10, 2015
Selected Grants
- IPA - Jeffrey Swanson
- Implementation and Effectiveness of "Dangerous Persons" Gun-Seizure Laws
- Implementing Extreme Risk Protection Order Laws: A Promising Strategy for Gun Violence Prevention
- Mental Disorders Prevalence Study
- Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Gun Sales: Comparative effectiveness of different minimum age standards for firearm purchase by adults with youthful crime records in North Carolina, Florida, and Virgin
- Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Gun Sales: Comparative effectiveness of different minimum age standards for firearm purchase by adults with youthful crime records in North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia
- Evaluation of the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Grant Program for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness
- IPA - Jeffrey Swanson
- A feasibility study for testing the effects of extended-release naltrexone (Vivitrol) on recidivism and other participant outcomes in drug court settings
- Post-doctural Training Program in Mental Health Services Research
- Implementation and Effectiveness of "Dangerous Persons" Gun-Seizure Laws in Connecticut and Indiana
- Policy and interventions for adults with SMI and criminal justice involvement
- Gender differences in jail diversion for adults with co-occurring disorders
- Firearms Laws, Mental Disorder, and Violence
- Implementing Psychiatric Advance Directives with Peer Specialist Facilitators
- Implementing Psychiatric Advance Directives with Peer Specialist Facilitators
- National Program Methods Core
- IPA - Jeffrey Swanson
- Post-doctoral Training Program in Mental Health Services Research
- PREMIER Mental Health Interventions Training Program
- Psychiatric Treatment and Violence Risk Management
- Improving Representative Payeeship for People with Psychiatric Disabilities and their Families
- Effectively Implementing Psychiatric Advance Directives
- The Effectiveness Of Involuntary Outpatient Commitment
- The Effectiveness Of Involuntary Outpatient Commitment