Violent Circumstances Research Articles

From Marianism to terrorism: the many faces of violence against women in Latin America.

Violence against women is widespread and highly tolerated in Latin America. In this paper, I will argue that this is because violence stems from deep cultural roots and because women are brought up in a patriarchal familial organization which promotes passivity and dependence. Traditional religious culture, which poses the Virgin Mary figure as role model, is ambivalent and distorted, repressing sex while overvaluing motherhood and self denial and demeaning women who do not conform to the established stereotypes. Patriarchal violence has serious emotional consequences for women. The stressful violent circumstances in women's lives lead to increased drug abuse that further exposes them to police and institutional violence. Political instability and civil wars in South America have caused many deaths, and have left many women with traumatic sequelae. Efforts at improving quality of life and diminishing violent conditions for women and girls in Latin America should include consideration of local cultural, political and economic peculiarities.

Gun violence and police problem solving: A research note examining alternative data sources

This article uses gun seizure data from the gun lab of the St. Louis Police Department to examine a problem-solving approach to seizing illegal firearms. Further, it explores narrative data from the police reports to understand the context surrounding 113 firearms seizure. The most important findings are that most illegal firearms are seized by the police department in the course of routine patrol, and that many seemingly nonviolent technical law violations (e.g., the unlawful carrying, use, or concealment of a firearm) often occur under violent circumstances. Given the paucity of gun research, future studies should use multiple data sources to further explain the gun/crime relationship. These findings are discussed in the context of routine policing.

Traumatic Loss: Conceptual and Empirical Links Between Trauma and Bereavement

This article focuses on conceptual issues and empirical studies regarding the topic of traumatic loss (i.e., loss that occurs suddenly and under violent circumstances) as a method for linking the field of trauma, and that of grief and bereavement. Several definitions of trauma are presented that include the concept of loss, and additional concepts are suggested that may be helpful in thinking about the two areas together. Also, modes of death associated with poor recovery are noted, and it is argued that these modes are those that make a bereavement more “traumatic”. Some empirical studies on the psychological outcomes associated with traumatic loss are reviewed, and preliminary findings from a new study of traumatically bereaved women are briefly presented

Firearm injury among urban youth during the last decade: An escalation in violence

Purpose: To better characterize firearm violence in urban youth, the authors investigated the circumstances and out-come of shootings among youths under 17 years of age. Methods: A retrospective case review was undertaken of all patients under 17 years of age treated for a gunshot wound at two adjoining level I Trauma Centers (adult and pediatric) administering to a predominantly lower socioeconomic population from January 1986 to December 1995. Demographics, injury severity, circumstances, and outcome of injury were analyzed. Results: 323 youths were wounded by firearms. The mean age was 12.8 years, and 82.3% were boys. There was a 110% increase in frequency of wounding noted during the second half of study (219 v 104), predominatly in the adolescent subset (160% increase for age greater than 12 years v 30% increase for age 12 years and under). The mean injury severity score and trauma score were 9.3 and 14.4, respectively. Violent circumstances (assault, crossfire, drive-by shooting, suicide) accounted for 60.4% of injuries and more than doubled over the study period (26.7% of total in the first 2 years [n = 4], 68.8% in the last 2 years [n = 55]). Unintentional injuries (self nonsuicide, family, friend) accounted for 26.3% of the injuries and declined in relative frequency over the study period (46.7% of total in the first 2 years [n = 7], 20.0% in the last 2 years [n = 16]). Black boys had the highest wounding incidence ( 9.2 1,000 population), were most commonly injured by assault (29.0%), and had a higher mean number of wounds (1.8). White boys had a lower wounding incidence ( 3.1 1,000 population), were more often injured unintentionally by a friend (41.2%), and had a lower mean number of wounds (1.3), none as a result of violence. Girls had a wounding incidence of less than 2 1,000 and were most commonly injured in crossfire (40.7%). Ten percent of shootings were fatal. The assailant was known to the victim in 52.8% of children less than 6 years of age, but only 24.7% of children over 12 years of age. Conclusions: The incidence of gunshot wounds in the youth of this urban population has increased substantially over the past decade. Adolescent black boys were the most frequent victims of these shootings. There has been a disproportionate growth in violent circumstances surrounding the shootings.

From Deep Space: The Poetry of Robert Dana

IF ONE ATTENDS primarily to the brisk, clipped tone that sounds fre quently in Robert Dana's What I Think I Know (new poems, with a selec tion from his four previous volumes plus a number of uncollected works from the 1950s) one might conclude that Dana descends from the long line of street-tough poets ?sharp, brusque, guarded?that originated with Villon and extends now to Philip Levine, C. K. Williams, and Raymond Carver. For such poets, the urban setting supplies a backdrop of random violence against which they must define themselves. Their essential prob lem is whether anything like tenderness can be sustained in so hostile an environment. Often their solution is to recall a moment of fragility or vul nerability that emerged unexpectedly, despite violent circumstances. These poets deploy the poem as a guard or shield: the hard shell of their brusque voice serves to sequester that fragile moment, preserving it for always. And so Villon's poems naturally take the form of last wills and testaments, handing down gifts for posterity (even ironic gifts); and Levine's poems frequently return to adolescent days in Detroit, to a time when toughness and tenderness seemed opposite sides of the same coin. Yet ultimately, Dana's work fits awkwardly alongside poems in the street-tough tradition. That tradition depends on plain speaking. A flat, next-to-prose discourse is useful because its very blankness alludes to the weight of the city streets, but also because it can easily be cast aside to redeem an instance by depicting it with special reverence. But the verbal surface of a Dana poem is apt to be unusually disrupted. Several voices con tend for dominance in the middle of Aquamarine:

Mass media and political upheaval: the need for rational discourse

The debate revolving round political violence and the mass media in a democracy and in South Africa is intricate and hotly contested. This article refers to critical communicological issues that mark the debate and attempts to situate the political violence/ mass media inquiry within recent calls for consensus journalism amid the politically violent circumstances in which South Africa finds itself. The article suggests that South Africa first of all needs a devotion to rational discourse and that it devolves upon the mass media, among other institutions, to enhance such discourse.

Le style ionien dans la vie politique archaïque

In order to work out a distinctive political history of archaic ionian city- states, the Milesian crises are worth considering. Late stories relating the violent circumstances attending the fall of Kingship find an echo in the conflicts which, in Homeric Ithaca, set the Pretenders up against Ulysses and his followers. The sequel of Milesian history, especially if compared to the history of Chios, offers evidence of a will to assert himself as a Greek city-state against its barbarians neighbours, but also of a remarkable inability to do without a power of monarchical type, to stabilize a wide civic basis and control the whole of its territory.

Violent youth: The impact of mental health treatment

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article by Hartstone and Cocozza was to examine the impact of the Court Related Unit (CRU) pilot program on the post-release experiences of its youths. CRU was established as a joint effort between the New York Department of Mental Hygiene, and the New York State Division for Youth for the treatment of violent and mentally disordered juveniles. METHODOLOGY: This study was a quasi-experimental design, using an exclusive population of youths eligible for and treated at the CRU. To be eligible for this program the youths had to have committed a violent offense which included either a 1st or 2nd degree act of Murder, Man-slaughter, Rape, Sodomy, Arson, Robbery or Kidnapping. Others could be admitted if they were officially adjudicated a delinquent and displayed a pattern of violence against the person. The experimental group included youths treated in the CRU program. The comparison group was eligible for the program, but upon further evaluation, (levels of violence and mental illness), this groups members were not accepted into the CRU program. The experimental and comparison groups matched on average age at 15.5 years, 75% were black or hispanic, and 78% did not live with both natural parents. There were major differences noted between the two groups. Comparison group subjects were four times as likely to have no prior court records and twice as likely to have no prior judgements. Where as the CRU youths were more likely to have a prior petition for violent offenses, and were three times as likely to be diagnosed as psychotic. Other differences were pointed out in the study. The authors cautioned that these two groups were similar, but that the comparison group was not a control group. Data was collected using official records and follow-up interviews for all youths released by CRU before April 30, 1979 (n=34). The same procedure was used for the subjects of the comparison group (n=42). Follow-up interviews focused on social and psychological adjustment and the youths assessment of their prior treatment. The youths were ask questions which included their own assessment of their ability to integrate with the community and their family, their feelings of being stigmatized, and any indications of abnormal behavior. Only 24 of 34 CRU youths and 27 of 42 comparison youths participated. Additional arrest and incarceration rate information was collected from official state and city agencies. Analysis included comparisons of percentages and sample means in the areas of placement, duration, adjustment and recidivism. Because this study included the whole population of youths at the CRU as well as those eligible for entrance, the authors did not feel it necessary to use tests of significance when comparing these groups. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Even though the sample was small, evidence suggested that the program had a positive impact on the CRU youths. The CRU youths had more serious histories than the comparison group, yet the CRU group managed better upon returning to the community. The CRU youths had fewer arrests, and when they were arrested it was under less violent circumstances than the comparison group. The CRU youths also felt less stigmatized, had higher self-esteem, and had better family relations than the comparison group. The authors caution that the differences seen were not always great, but given the differences in the two group's histories, even the slight improvement of the CRU groups recovery rates over the comparison groups was a strong indicator that the program was more successful than other alternative programs. AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors wanted to make it clear that their findings were not an answer to the problems of juvenile violence. They reminded the reader that their study is only one case study, and that cost effectiveness should be considered when implementing a program such as CRU. Additionally, the authors stated that this type of program is only a small part of the bigger picture on the continuum of care that needs to be available when treating troubled youths. (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 - New York KW - Juvenile Offender KW - Juvenile Violence KW - Juvenile Treatment KW - Juvenile Mental Health KW - Mental Health Treatment KW - Treatment Effectiveness Evaluation KW - Treatment Program KW - Program Effectiveness KW - Program Evaluation KW - Offender Treatment KW - Community Reintegration KW - Violence Intervention KW - Intervention Program KW - Violence Treatment Language: en