Violence in America: causes, patterns, and societal impact

Violence in America

Education

The purpose of this paper is to research violence in America in relation to Education and to make a determination of 'who' is responsible for the growing violence, if in fact it is growing.

The United States Crime Index Rates per 100,000 climbed from 1,887.2 in the year of 1960 to 5,897 in 1991 in which year the crime rate was at its highest. According to the report: "Crime in the untied States accounts for more death, injuries and loss of property than all Natural Disasters combined. During the early 1980's a wave of violence involving youth swept the across the United States. Between the years of 1980 to 1984 youth violence grew by 99% and violence among adults declined. Between 1980 and 1994 arrests of juveniles rose by 94%.

Varied and sundry consideration as to the precise strategy that might be effective in curbing violence among youth has been contemplated. Some strategies focus toward prevention of the violence ever occurring to begin with and others focus toward reducing the behaviors that are connected to the violence. Accordingly there exists three prominent types strategy of intervention methods according to experts. The three interventions categorically used in dealing with violence among youth are as follows:

1) Individual-based intervention

2) Neighborhood-based intervention; and

3) Gun and police intervention

All three of these methods have been shown to bring about reductions in violence as well as the antisocial behaviors connected with violence. The intervention used with "neighborhood based intervention' is inclusive of "comprehensive" strategies as well as "school-based programs."

(Brash 2004) "Comprehensive strategies are those that make provision of extensive services to youth in the intent to improve the social and economic factors within the neighborhood. The parents of the youth are provided assistance as well. However, due to their complex nature the comprehensive strategies are not easily implemented and neither are they easily evaluated.

I. Violence Defined:

Generally violence is defined as an action or series of action intended to inflict physical harm upon an individual or that does in actuality commit harm to the person. Juvenile homicides rose steadily and in the span between 1990 and 1999 there were a stated: "34,000 that were victims of homicide. However, violent crimes are not necessarily those of a physical nature only." (Farrington, 1998)

II. Violence among Youth:

There exists two categorizations within the framework of youth violence which are stated as being the categories of 'psychological' and of 'sociological' There are some theories that state that causative factors of violent behaviors are based in such things as the: "absence of role models, faulty bonding with parents, incomplete development self-control, structural inequalities as well as cultural demands." The limited offenders as they are called have no historical behavior pattern of the antisocial. The violent adolescents are grouped in two groups and are that either of "life-course persistent" or "adolescent limited."

The "life-course persistent' individual is characterized by "prenatal and perinatal difficulties such as preterm delivery and low birth weight." The individual who is termed a "adolescent limited "brain damage from infectious disease traumatic head injury or pre/postnatal exposure to heavy metals, alcohol, tobacco or cocaine." The listed behaviors are those set out by Howell & Hawkins (1998). Stated is that children that live in poverty or in neighborhoods that are economically disadvantaged as well as criminal behavior by a parent may very well propel the violent behavior. Although the study did not show evidence that "antisocial parents or drug use to predispose youth to violence." Howell & Hawkins (1998)

There are others who state emphatically that the television is the worst influence in regards to promoting violent and antisocial behavior. In a report entitled: "The effect of television violence of Children." written by Ronald M. Davis, M.D. is an acknowledgement of the fact that:

"Television, movies, music and interactive games are powerful learning tools and that these media can, and often are, used to instruct, encourage and even inspire. The Joint Statement, however, also points out that when these entertainment media showcase violence, particularly in a context which glamorizes trivializes it, the lessons learned can be destructive. A copy of this joint statement is attached to our testimony. Entertainment violence Is certainly not the sole, or even necessarily the most significant, factor contributing to youth aggression, anti-social attitudes and violence. Family breakdown, peer influences, the availability of weapons, and numerous other factors may all contribute to these problems. However, there is no question that entertainment violence does have pathological effects on children, and the AMA believes that because violence is a public health threat, careful consideration must be given to the content of entertainment media.

Summary and Conclusion:

There are many factors that contribute to violence particularly in the world as we know it today. The multicultural and multiethnic society is woven throughout almost every location and every location on earth. The racial shifts in the 1950's and 1960's were a great shaking and each subculture was shaken up and out of the box of their own subculture and forced to acknowledge the world as being a 'global' society. As already stated there are in existence intervention methods that do the job in decreasing violence and behavior that leads to violence. Many studies and initiatives have been labored over by teachers and researchers alike and it appears that much as been achieved.

Today's educational institution has integrated interventions through the use of police speaking with the youth and further the application in educating today's youth in gun safety and awareness. Mentoring has also been used to assist students and their parents into a smooth integration into school life. Furthermore, intensive police patrols have been utilized on college campus as well as throughout the network of town and cities.

A study performed in Baltimore and Maryland states that any school-initiative in terms of addressing violence should have the five following element present in the project:

Wraparound services for youth most at risk of violence

Targeted hand gun patrols in high-violence areas

Home visitation by nurses and paraprofessional

Evidence-based prevention instruction in schools

Intensive family therapy.

The FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System collect information on crimes as they are reported to local law enforcement agencies. The time and date is also collected. Findings in 1999 show that the most prevalent crimes are Robbery, Aggravated Assault, What is notable is that the peak for crimes on school days is between 3:00 PM and 9:00 PM while crimes committed on nonschool days peaked around 11:00 P.M.