SOCSCI 2 PEACE AND

DEVELOPMENT

LESSON 2: Violence in Human Life

Learning Outcomes:
1.2.1. Discuss the meaning, sources and
types of violence

1.2.2. Discuss how violence has affected

one’s life and the community
1.2.3. Explain how the individual and
the community has addressed the
different issues brought about by
violence.

An Overarching Definition of Violence

Violence is defined by the World Health Organization in the WRVH as “the

intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself,
another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high
likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or
deprivation” (Krug, Mercy J.et al, 2002)

Globally, violence takes the lives of more than 1.5 million people annually: just
over 50% due to suicide, some 35% due to homicide, and just over 12% as a direct
result of war or

some other form of conflict. For each single death due to violence, there are dozens
of hospitalizations, hundreds of
emergency department visits, and
thousands of doctors'
appointments. Furthermore,
violence often has lifelong
consequences for victims' physical and
mental health and social functioning
and can slow economic and social
development (Balamurugan, 2019).

According to Betty Reardon, peace educators define violence as humanly

inflicted harm. (Reardon, n.d.). Furthermore, violence can be categorized as direct
(physical violence)
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and indirect (structural violence). While Birgit Brock –Utne (1989) notes that violence
can be categorized as organized or unorganized.

1. Organized violence - refers to war that occurs between states or within a state.

2. Unorganized violence – usually done by an individual or groups in a

spontaneous includes wife battering, rape, child abuse and street crime.

3. Direct Violence/Physical Violence – “behavioural” violence such as war,

bullying, domestic violence

4. Indirect violence (Structural Violence) – often unconscious; structural violence

results from unjust and inequitable social and economic structures and
manifesting itself in for example, poverty and deprivation of all kinds.

5. Cultural violence - the devaluing and destruction of particular human identities

and ways of life, the violence of sexism, ethnocentrism, racism and colonial
ideologies, and other forms of moral exclusion that rationalise aggression,
domination, inequity, and oppression. (Council of Europe, 2017)

Typology of Violence

The WRVH also presents a typology of violence that, while not uniformly
accepted, can be a useful way to understand the contexts in which violence occurs
and the interactions between types of violence. This typology distinguishes four
modes in which violence may be inflicted: physical; sexual; and psychological attack;
and deprivation. It further divides the general definition of violence into three sub-
types according to the victim-perpetrator relationship.

Self-directed violence refers

to violence in which the perpetrator
and the victim are the same
individual and is subdivided into
self-abuse and suicide.

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Interpersonal violence refers to

violence between individuals, and is
subdivided into family and intimate
partner violence and community
violence. The former category includes
child maltreatment; intimate partner
violence; and elder abuse, while the latter
is broken down into acquaintance and
stranger violence and includes youth
violence; assault by strangers; violence
related to property crimes; and violence
in workplaces and other institutions.

Collective violence refers to

violence committed by larger
groups of individuals and can
be subdivided into social,
political and economic violence.

Picturefrom washintontimes.org

Causes of Violence
Violence cannot be attributed to a single factor. Its causes are complex and
occur at different levels. The following four-level version of the socio-ecological is
often used in the study of violence:

a. Personal - the first level identifies biological and personal factors that influence
how individuals behave and increase their likelihood of becoming a victim or
perpetrator of violence:

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- Such as demographic characteristics (age, education, income),

personality disorders, substance abuse, and a history of
experiencing, witnessing, or engaging in violent behaviour.

b. Family or friends - the second level

focuses on close relationships, such
as those with family and friends.

- In youth violence, for example,

having friends who engage in or
encourage violence can increase a
young person’s risk of being a
victim or perpetrator of

violence. Picturefrom clipartpanda.com

- For intimate partner violence, a consistent marker at this level of the

model is marital conflict or discord in the relationship.

- In elder abuse, important factors are stress due to the nature of the
past relationship between the abused person and the care giver.

c. Community - the third level explores

the community context — i.e.,
schools, workplaces, and
neighbourhoods.

- Risk at this level may be affected

by factors such as the existence of a
local drug trade, the absence of social

Picture from theeducatoronline.com

d. Society - Societal factors that help to create a climate in which violence is

encouraged or inhibited:
- The responsiveness of the criminal justice system, social and cultural
norms regarding gender roles or parent-child relationships, income
inequality, the strength of the social welfare system, the social
acceptability of violence, the availability of firearms, the exposure to
violence in mass media, and political instability.

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Problems of violence

1. Families edging out of poverty and investing in schooling their sons and
daughters can be ruined through the violent death or severe disability of the
main breadwinner.

2. Communities can be caught in poverty traps where pervasive violence

and deprivation form an unpleasant circle that restricts economic growth.

3. For societies, meeting the direct costs of health, criminal justice, and social
welfare responses to violence diverts many billions of dollars from more
constructive societal spending.

4. In countries with high levels of violence, economic growth can be slowed

down, personal and collective security eroded, and social development
impeded.

5. The much larger indirect costs of violence due to lost productivity and lost
investment in education work together to slow economic development,
increase socio-economic inequality, and erode human and social capital.

Approaches to Violence and Violence Prevention

Criminal justice approach

The criminal justice approach sees its main task as enforcing laws that
proscribe violence and ensuring that "justice is done".

The notions of individual blame, responsibility, guilt, and culpability are central
to criminal justice's approach to violence and one of the criminal justice
system's main tasks is to "do justice",

i.e. to ensure that offenders are properly identified, that the degree of their guilt is
as accurately ascertained as possible, and that they are punished
appropriately.

To prevent and respond to violence, the criminal justice approach relies primarily
on deterrence, incarceration and the punishment and rehabilitation of
perpetrators

The Human Rights Approach

The Human rights approach is based on the obligations of states to respect,

protect and fulfil human rights and therefore to prevent, eradicate and punish
violence.

It recognizes violence as a violation of many human rights: the rights to life,

liberty, autonomy and security of the person; the rights to equality and non-
discrimination;
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the rights to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
or punishment; the right to privacy; and the right to the highest attainable
standard of health.

Prevention of Violence
A rigorous review of the literature on the effectiveness of strategies to
prevent interpersonal violence identified as being supported by either strong or
emerging evidence for effectiveness. These strategies target risk factors at all four
levels of the ecological model.

1. Developing safe, stable and good relationships between children and their
parents and caregivers

- This will actually help in reducing convictions and violent acts in

adolescence and early adulthood, and probably help decrease
intimate partner violence and self-directed violence in later life.

2. Developing life skills in children and adolescents

- Evidence shows that the life-skills acquired in social
development programmes can reduce involvement in violence,
improve social skills, boost educational achievement and improve job
prospects. Life skills refer to social, emotional, and behavioural
competencies which help children and adolescents effectively
deal with the challenges of everyday life.

3. Reducing the availability and harmful use of alcohol. Evidence is emerging

that violence may be prevented by:

- Reducing the availability of alcohol (e.g. by restricting hour or days of sale

and raising alcohol prices);

- Brief interventions and longer-term treatment for problem drinkers;

- Improving the management of environments where alcohol is served
(e.g. reducing crowding, increasing comfort levels, improving physical
design and staff training).

4. Reducing access to guns or harmful items

- Evidence emerging suggests that limiting access to firearms can
prevent homicides and injuries and reduce the costs of these forms
of violence to society.

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SOCSCI 2- There is some evidence, for example, to suggest
PEACEthat
ANDjurisdictions
DEVELOPMENT
with restrictive firearms legislation and lower firearms ownership
tend to have lower levels of gun violence

Other than this, we have to develop our self-control.

- We have to create our own ethical way and bath for peaceful life.
5.
- No anger, Hatred and enmity, control mind, Love and kindness,
Practicing Yoga, Truth and Non-violence (Prevention of Violence)