Texas Violent Death Reporting System
Welcome to the Texas Violent Death Reporting System (TVDRS). TVDRS uses the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Violent Death Reporting System to link violent death data, including why violent deaths occurred. Violent deaths include suicides, homicides, accidental firearm deaths, and undetermined violent deaths.
TVDRS collects violent death data from many sources including death certificates, medical examiners, justices of the peace, and law enforcement agencies. TVDRS removes personal information of the deceased. Staff then enter the information into a secure database. Our mission is to use violent death data to inform decisions that save lives.
For more information on which counties TVDRS covers, see the expansion map below.
How can you use TVDRS data to prevent violent death?
Inform Decision Makers about the scale, trends, and characteristics of violent deaths.
Educate Communities about circumstances that contribute to violence.
Help Decision Makers and Programs improve comprehensive violence prevention efforts to maximize benefits.
Linking Data to Save Lives
Frontline investigators include:
- Law enforcement;
- Justices of the peace; and
- Medical examiners.
These investigators collect valuable information about violent deaths. Yet, the data is seldom combined to provide a complete picture of the death.
The Texas Violent Death Reporting System (TVDRS) collects data from:
- Death certificates;
- Justice of the peace inquests;
- Medical examiner reports;
- Law enforcement incident reports; and
- Autopsy and toxicology reports.
These go into one database after our program de-identifies the reports.
Data elements collected provide valuable background about violent deaths. It can show:
- Relationship problems;
- Mental health conditions and treatment;
- Toxicology results; and
- Life stressors, including recent money- or work-related problems or physical health problems.
Our data is far more comprehensive than other collection systems. Professionals can use this information to create violence prevention efforts to save lives.
Access our Informational Flyer.
Contact TVDRS
Your questions are important to us. Please email us at tvdrs@dshs.texas.gov.
The Texas Department of State Health Services does not endorse external links to other websites or documents created by other agencies. These links and documents are informational and may not be accessible to persons with disabilities.