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