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Abstract
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Interpersonal violence is a major problem in US society in terms of the death and destruction it causes, the fear it generates, and the attention it receives. A recent trend has been to regard the problem of violence as an epidemic and to shape ideas of violence prevention according to public-health formulations. This process does not take into account the ideological nature of the proposed violence-prevention measures. Problems arise because this ideology is relevant to the potential effectiveness of violence prevention.This paper delineates several ideological issues involved in violence prevention and discusses how they interact with frequently employed public-health prevention strategies. Based upon this discussion, a general perspective for violence prevention is proposed and guiding principles that emerge from this perspective are presented.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this paper by Whitman was to examine the application of public-health strategies to the prevention of violence in America and addressed the changes needed in societal ideologies for the formulation of successful violence prevention programs.
METHODOLOGY:
A non-experimental, literary review of studies was used to address several ideological issues of violence. Data from various sources were used only to profile the spread of violence in the United States, specifically homicide from 1950-1983. Data on suicide, rape, child abuse, and other types of assault from these studies were omitted. The impact that age distribution of varying causes of death have on society was addressed by the Years of Life Lost (YLL) measure and the Productive Years of Life Lost (PYLL) measure. The use of YLL and PYLL measures was more comprehensive then death rates at looking at the effects of homicide. For example, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death and the sixth leading cause of PYLL; homicide is not even among the top ten causes of death but is the fifth leading cause of PYLL, and diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death but is not among the ten leading causes of PYLL. Relationships between victims and perpetrator were also addressed and were found to be relevant and proportional to reports of all violence in the United States.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Four categories of current violence prevention thinking were examined. Category 1 involved doing nothing. Category 2 involved educating, and urging people to alter lifestyles or to change behaviors. Category 3 involved passing legislation that reinforces or replaces education. Category 4 involved redesigning prevention systems so that no cooperation of individuals is required. These measures were seen, at best, temporary reforms for violence and failed to look at societal problems concerning capitalism, racism, and sexism as causes of violence. They ignored societal causes of violence and placed the blame on the individual rather than within the relationship between that person and society. Investigators, it was reported, have now acknowledged that there are societal causes of violence. The Centerwall study demonstrated that when socioeconomic status is controlled, racial differentials in domestic homicide disappear, and Jason et al., concluded "when economic indicators are taken into consideration, race and regional cultural factors drop out, leaving poverty as the most significant correlate of homicide" (p. 740). The data seemed to indicate that the elimination of racism, sexism, poverty, and alienation from society could effectively prevent violence.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author suggested the following violence prevention efforts. 1) Reforms should be supported if they do not require distortions of reality such as victim-blaming. 2) Appeals to personal responsibility are not necessarily a negative but are only negative if they deny the overarching societal dynamics. 3) Whatever is done to help prevent violence should be done with and not to people. 4) Actions to prevent violence should strengthen the community. 5) The community must control how violence prevention is implemented. 6) The community should fight racism, sexism, and poverty, and not blame the victim for the crime. 7) Oppressed groups-black people, women, gay people-must determine for themselves just how to fight the specific violence directed at them. According to the author, current violence prevention programs fail because they do not address the ideological issues that cause violent actions in the United States. Until that notion is accepted, it cannot be researched and analyzed by health workers. The author stated that violence as a health issue would only be pursued honestly when the major medical journals start to publish articles that cite capitalism, racism, and sexism as causes of violence and when the health community stops treating the violence problem through the person-centered approach. It was argued that through the restructuring of society to eliminate racism, sexism, poverty, and alienation, that violence could be prevented. The author proposed his seven principles to support an ideology and corresponding behavior that works against the divisive and oppressive features of our society.
EVALUATION:
This article recognizes the larger picture of the dynamics of homicide that are so often neglected in policy and research. It is obvious that the problem is bigger than the individual; individualistic approaches have been, in large part, failures. The dramatic differences in homicide rates and incarceration rates between blacks and whites, higher and lower SES, males and females, are indicative of the need for a more comprehensive approach. As the goal of this study was largely exploration, other research is needed to back up the classism, racism, and sexism findings in this study. There are other researchers that have found similar trends, enough that these findings should be taken seriously. The changes called for by the author are tremendously needed, but they are so big that they will demand a societal reaction. Thus far, society has not been willing to truly acknowledge factors over and above the individual in the quest against crime. The research community can offer much information in the determination of extent, severity, and effects of such factors as racism, but there needs to be better communication between the research community and the community which needs to make these large scale changes that will help in the fight against crime. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Public Health Approach
KW - Prevention Recommendations
KW - Prevention Program
KW - Program Recommendations
KW - Violence Prevention
KW - Homicide Prevention
KW - Societal Acceptance
KW - Societal Ideology
KW - Adult Violence
KW - Juvenile Violence
KW - Sociocultural Factors
Language: en |