CRM 601 Chapter 1 Textbook Notes PDF

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Week 1 Chapter 1 Textbook Notes...

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CRM 601 Fall 2018 Week 1

Chapter 1 As American as Apple Pie Origins of Violence - Unity of human aggression o All violence is connected by a web of actions and behaviours, ideas, perceptions, and justifications o Violent acts share a number of essential characteristics o Rely on similar justifications, perpetrated for same kinds of reasons o - Violence o Aggression and/or harmful behaviour o “Violence is any action or structural arrangement that results in physical or nonphysical harm to one or more persons” - Aggression o Behavior that is physically and/or psychologically harmful

Justifications for Violence - “Righteous slaughter” o Perpetrators perceive victims as having brought the violence upon themselves  In eyes of the offender – the violence is appropriate and justified o Humiliation  rage  violence o Retaliation or defense Spillover Effect Theory o Values and justifications for violence in socially approved settings “spill over” and result in illegitimate (illegal) forms of violence o Ex. War, capital punishment (death penalty), justifiable homicide, spanking o Dane Archer and Rosemary Gartner – compared national homicide rates before and after various wars  Found that most combatant nations experienced substantial postwar increases in their rates of homicide  Conclusion: war legitimates use of lethal force/ violence to resolve conflict o Spanking:  children who are spanked are more likely to be aggressive as adults compared with children who were not spanked  physically disciplining children legitimates other forms of violence in interpersonal confrontations  physical responses to conflict may well spill over to other relationships, such as with an intimate partner or spouse - Brutalization hypothesis o Death penalty desensitizes society to killing;  and devalues human life and therefore increases tolerance toward lethal behaviour,  which in turn results in increases in criminal homicide rates o States that sentence the most ppl to death tend to have the highest homicide rates

Defining Violence

Complexities of defining violence - Varied actions and contexts o Many perpetrators of violence see themselves as being justified in their actions and often define their acts as a legitimate response to some behavioral or ethical breach on the part of their victim - Definition in constantly changing depending on current social issues o ex. More people including police brutality in their personal definition of violence - Perceptions and understandings o Some see violence as only physical, while others include emotional or psychological acts as well  ‘WHO’ includes psychological aggression and deprivation/neglect in their definition of interpersonal violence o May be solely human-perpetrated, or forces of nature - Legitimacy o May be illegal/ illegitimate, or may include socially approved acts of violence (ex. Police shooting) The Context of Violence - Highly situational, contingent, and contextual o Victim  More likely to sympathise with a victim we identify with/ feel similar to o Offender  If we know and can identify more easily with the perpetrator than with the victim, we will be more willing to find ways to rationalize and accept the violence o Nature of violence  Minor = much easier to dismiss/ justify  Severe or brutal = much less likely to be deemed acceptable o Location of violence  At home = more acceptable than public place or work setting  Especially true if the victim is a wife or child (what happens “behind closed doors” is private) o Rationale for violence  If we agree and/or understand the motivation, then it becomes easier to accept and even commend specific acts of violence -

The outcome is what’s violent – not necessarily the act itself

Defining Aggression

Classifications of Violence - Expressive vs. instrumental o Expressive = emotionally motivated o Instrumental = means to an end, ex. Armed robbery Interconnected Violence - Interpersonal o Ex. Assault, rape, murder - Institutional o Organizational setting o ex. Family violence, workplace, military, religious, state perpetrated, etc. - Structural o Discriminatory social arrangements o Ex. Societal inequalities

Measuring Violence Reports to law enforcements - Uniform crime reporting program (UCR) o most widely used source of statistical information about violent crime in the United States o compiled by FBI o info about violent incidents reported to police since 1930 - Supplementary homicide reports (SHR) o Includes info about both offender and victim o Ex. the gender and race of both, the relationship between the victim and offender, the weapon used - National incident based reporting system (NIBRS) o more specific than UCR data and include many more offences that local agencies have to report information on o only about half of all states use this format; expensive and lengthy process to fill out the paperwork Victimization surveys

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National victimization survey (NCVS) o Provides estimates of victimization at the state level o remains the only ongoing self-report survey in which interviewed persons are asked about the number and characteristics of victimizations they have experienced during the previous year o regardless of whether they reported these victimizations to the police National youth survey (NYS) o Measure offending behaviour o In 1995, a probability sample of 11-17 yr olds were surveyed for several years

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Researchers used behaviour-specific wording instead of relying on the use of crime categories and labels

Violence in U.S. Society - Data indicate that the impact of violence on society is immense o Avoidance strategies o “Get Tough” o Centuries of warfare o Media o Entertainment and gaming o Knows a victim o Identities shaped by violence - Violent crime rates, 1993-2014 (NCVS)

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o Includes rape, sex assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assaults o Peaked in 1990s and has been generally declining since then Murder rates per 100,000 by country (2004)

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Lethal violence has declined significantly in large and medium-sized cities Murder rates have remained consistent in suburban and rural areas

Embracing Violence - Culture o Values, beliefs, and rules of behaviour; rules what is expected, valued, and prohibited

Our history and experiences have resulted in a system of values and beliefs that, (to a greater extent than in some other cultures) condones, tolerates, and even expects a violent response to various and specific situations Subcultures of violence o Specific to particular regions/ groups o Culture of honor  Regions/ cultures with notions of honor that demand a violent response to certain provocations  Resort to physical combat as a measure of daring, courage, or defense of status appears to be a cultural expectation o Particular groups are prone to violence (more likely to rely on it)  Values and beliefs o Ex. Gang violence, Ku Klux Klan activity o

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