Violence Patterns and Prevention

[Music]

so

hello my name is ankur huffler and i’m a

professor of political science at the

university of constance in germany

much of my research is on the causes and

consequences of violence

today i’ll be talking about the patterns

of violence

i’ll be posing four questions first

what are the different types of violence

who are the victims

where does violence take place and can

violence be reduced

when you look at the media you see a lot

of reports

of armed conflict and terrorism

i will be referring to these types of

violence as collective violence because

they are perpetrated by groups organized

around

a political objective large-scale

armed conflict within countries is

commonly referred to as

civil war and this is the most common

form

of collective violence these civil wars

kill

and displace currently there are about

80 million displaced people

in the world the overwhelming majority

of these people were displaced by civil

wars

civil wars also kill a lot of people on

average about 150

000 people per year but

hold on you might think wars can also be

transformative

well they are oppressive regimes and

insurgents are fighting a just cause

maybe societies can rise like phoenix

from the ashes

after the war stopped this might be true

in some cases but on average civil wars

make countries

much poorer they’re less democratic and

have lower human rights

so therefore social scientists agree war

is development

in reverse so collective violence is

devastating

but is of course not the only type of

violence

actually it’s quite rare most countries

are at peace

but homicides and assault occur in

all countries and so i’ll be referring

to this type of violence as

interpersonal violence where individuals

or small groups

are the perpetrators let’s start with

the patterns of deadly violence

criminologists call this intentional

homicide

so this is murder and manslaughter how

many people

are killed every year

almost half a million people on average

are killed every year through homicides

what else can we say about the patterns

of this deadly violence

most victims are men three-quarters of

all homicide victims are male these are

mostly young men

they’re under the age of 30. and it is

now a leading cause of death

in young men in some latin american

countries

many of these deaths relate to the

illegal drugs trade

what about female homicide victims here

the patents are very different

they are less likely to be killed than

men and unlike men

they are less likely to be killed by

strangers

globally public health experts estimate

that 40 percent of all

female victims are killed by the current

or former intimate partner

so these are their boyfriends or

husbands

what about non-fatal violence against

women

when women suffer physical or sexual

assault

the most common perpetrator is their

intimate partner

although this violence happens

everywhere the prevalence is much higher

in poor countries

in sub-saharan africa the poorest region

in the world

one-third of all women report intimate

partner violence

during the last year is there also

non-fatal

intimate partner violence against men

yes

men also suffer intimate partner

violence but there is far less research

it does appear to be more common among

young couples

it is often fueled by substance abuse

women psychologically and physically

abuse their intimate partners

but the resulting injuries tend to be

less severe

so far we’ve discussed men and women

what about patterns of violence against

children only

very few homicide victims are children

victims tend to be very young most often

newborns

when children are killed the parents are

most likely perpetrators stranger

killings are really rare

so take the example of england and wales

country very good statistics in 2008

only four children were killed by

strangers

when we talk about violence against

children what makes the headlines

well severe cases of abuse child

pornography

prostitution and child soldiers this is

this sad reality for some children

but many many more are assaulted every

day by their caregivers

this first experience of violence for

many of us

is violence perpetrated by our parents

it is therefore the primordial

violence many parents use physical

punishment

this ranges from smacking or spanking

with a bare hand

or to beating with an implement

so typical implements used are belts or

canes paddles with professor james

fearon

at stanford university i carried out

some research and we estimate that 17

and a half percent of all children

are routinely subjected to severe

physical punishment by their parents so

this

is hitting them around the head or

hitting them with an implement

repeatedly

so i’ve given you a lot of information

on patterns of violence

and we have now answers to three of my

four questions

so firstly what are the types of

violence so

i distinguish between collective and

interpersonal violence

this um collective violence is deadly

but doesn’t produce as many victims as

the interpersonal violence but in any

case this deadly violence is absolutely

devastating

uh for the individual as well as for

society

it is their relatively rare in

particular collective violence

most countries are at peace it is

recognized as a problem

and a lot of policy efforts to reduce

this

type of violence are ongoing

number two who are the victims

overwhelmingly the victims of war and

homicide are men

but remember it’s a relatively rare form

of violence

more common is everyday violence against

women and children and here the

prevalence rates are very high

question number three was where does

violence take place

now much of the interpersonal violence

takes place

inside the home and the prevalence rates

of all forms of violence are much higher

in poor societies

let’s think about the consequences of

everyday violence

let’s consider a girl she’s born in

let’s say uganda

her parents use physical punishment in

her upbringing

the teacher uses violence to discipline

her in the classroom

she is much more likely to drop out of

school

enter sexual relationship is at higher

risk of abuse there

unwanted pregnancy abortion

sexually transmitted diseases possibly

hiv aids

and when she does have her own children

she’s

very likely to use the same violent

methods that she was brought up with

and so the cycle repeats so the

important question is then of course

can violence be reduced or

do we have to accept it as part of the

human condition

let me give you an example of violence

reduction

so in the us and western europe we have

greatly

reduced homicide rates and other forms

of violence over the past 30 years

so the homicide rate in the u.s has

halved over this period of time

is this possible for everyday violence

can we reduce everyday violence

similarly to how we reduce other form of

violence

let me give you two examples

the first one is a parenting program

so i’m a parent myself and it’s

incredibly rewarding

but it can also be very difficult so

these parenting programs send parents to

school

and they teach parents about the

importance of bonding

and praise in the education

they do also provide factual information

about child development

so their parents have realistic

expectations of what a child can do

and understand at certain ages and

they teach you about non-violent

discipline methods

for example time out so

in western kenya with very poor

communities we’re using triple p

this is the positive parenting program

it was developed in australia it is

very well researched in high income

countries

but not so much in low and middle income

countries and we’ve just ended our

feasibility study in kenya

the parents were incredibly receptive

and keen to learn

and the first results are very

encouraging parents

who were part of our program hit their

children less

example two how can we reduce violence

in schools

many teachers use violence in the

classroom

and to dr tobias hecker and his team

have developed

a teacher training module to strengthen

the teacher’s interaction competencies

with the children

has proved to be very effective in east

african countries

and we have now taken this program to

haiti

haiti is a very poor country and

degrading treatment of children and

hitting them in school is commonplace

so take this example of this girl who is

being

punished and she has to kneel on gravel

in school in haiti we’re in the middle

of the feasibility study

and we have very encouraging first signs

teachers and head teachers are keen to

change

but we haven’t come to the end of this

feasibility trial yet

i’m very keen on these school programs

because they’ve got a multiplier effect

so one teacher reaches a lot of students

and teachers are typically role models

in their communities

so um this might have bring about

further changes

so for example parents might hit their

children less when they see that the

teacher doesn’t use violence either

in general let me stress that there is

already good evidence that these

programs are effective

they are not expensive to implement

they are cost effective and have high

benefit cost ratios

so that should help us to convince

policy makers to implement these

programs

so to conclude war and homicide

are terrible for the individual and for

society

and there are already ongoing efforts to

reduce these devastating types of

violence

however there is less awareness of the

damage that every

day violence can cause let’s

all join together and make the world a

better place by reducing violence

in all its forms thank you very much