Violence: The Social Problem

Violence: The Social Problem

Introduction

Following the news in the media, people acknowledge the prevalence of violence in society. In addition to violence depiction in various films, shows, and video games, news outlets are filled with reports on cases of violence as well. It should be noted in such matters that there are no layers in the society, which are free from violent influences in one way or another. Violence not only affects individuals, families, and ethnic and religious groups, but also whole nations are affected with violence. In that regard, it can be stated that violence is an important problem in the society in which community violence can be seen as one of the most common types, which raises major concerns.

The present paper provides extensive research on the problem of violence in communities, in terms of its significance in the society, the different perspectives, its position in literature and the potential means for intervention.

Problem Statement

Violence is defined as “the use of force to injure people or to destroy their property”, and which can be divided into individual and group violence (Henslin, 2008, p. 132). The violence in communities can be defined through indicating the community context for violence. Thus, community violence can be defined as “events in the local neighborhood involving crime, weapons use, and violence or potential violence perpetrated by people outside of the immediate family” (Horowitz & McKay, 2005, p. 356). With violence in general being divided into main categories, violence in communities is often categorized into violence direct exposure, or victimization, and indirect exposure, or witnessing violence (Buka, Stichick, Birdthistle, & Earls, 2001, p. 298).

Additionally, the definition of community violence might consider several variables, which accordingly might refine the definition into being more specific. Such variables were identified in Rosenthal and Wilson (2003) as the location in which violence is taking place, i.e. inside or outside the home, sexual or non-sexual in nature, singular or more commonplace events, direct or indirect exposure, and being the victim or witnessing violence (Rosenthal & Wilson, 2003, p. 461).

With the definition clarified, the scale of the problem can be seen through governmental figures and statistics, according to which the problem can be assessed and evaluated. Such statistics include such facts as homicide as the leading cause of death among black males and females 15-34 years of age and the second leading cause of death all 10-19 -year-olds, by 1992 (Buka, et al., 2001, p. 298). Other statistics include domestic violence as the leading cause of injury related deaths among pregnant women in the 1990s (Englander, 2007, p. 16). In terms of child abuse, such facts are even more serious, where the results of 1996 study indicates that for children 18 years of younger approximately 1,554,000, children were found to be victims of maltreatment, 734,000 were found to be victims physical, emotional or sexual abuse, and 879,000 were victims of neglect (Margolin & Gordis, 2000, p. 447).

In that regard, it can be seen that the scale of the problem of community violence poses a real problem to the society, which is shaped through by many realities, such as cultural, social and economical. Additionally, the problem of community violence has been numerously discussed in scholarly literature, in order to identify the causes and the direct and indirect t consequences of such phenomenon. In such a context, a specific focus was directed toward children and adolescents as the victims of community crimes as well as offenders.

Literature Review

Causes

There are numerous causes linked to the occurrence of violence in communities. One perspective on the causes of community violence can be seen through psychological theories. Such theories emphasize learning as one of the causes of violence, i.e. rewarding or reinforcing violence can cause the person to be violent again (Henslin, 2008, p. 138). Another view on such cause can be seen through emphasizing modeling and copying as one of the causes of violence. Such theories can be supported through the model proposed in Miller and Knudsen (2007), reviewed in Temple (2009), which suggests an inter- and intra-generational approach that assumes the existence of potential of violence in a family. Accordingly, the modeling and the copying factor, explained in psychological theorists, can be seen in particular cycle of violence, the initial causes of which can be substance abuse, self-harm, and mental health (Temple, 2009, p. 386). The latter can be also linked to the sub-cultural theory, which states that growing in a subculture approving violence can be influent