Perspectives of Violence and Non-violence - Exam 1

social structure theories, main points of readings

Risk Factors of violent behavior in young men

• SES - on the lower end

• High impulsiveness

• Poor housing

• Low IQ

Protective Factors

• socially competent

• problem-solving skills

• self-efficacy & autonomy

• sense of purpose/hope

Differential Association

• by Edwin Sutherland

• Learn violent criminal behavior the same way you learn non-violent criminal behavior 

• Learn it by interacting in close, personal, and intimate behavior 

• Learn the justification and mechanics of the behavior

Neutralization theory

• Individuals justifying criminal and violent behavior

• About denial

  • Deny responsibility 

  • Deny injury 

  • Deny the victim

  • Condemn the condemners - look at people with authority and blame them 

  • Appeal to a high loyalty - ex: a gang 

Hirschi

• We should learn about why people do not commit crime 

  • Precursors of why people don't commit crime 

    • Attachment to conventional norms or beliefs

    • Commitment to conventional norms or beliefs 

    • Belief: Have to believe in the norms and trust them 

  • Chances are exponentially low that if they follow the four ideas above; will commit crimes in their lifetime

Anome

Robert merton

• Everyone has similar goals; certain people have the opportunity to achieve legitimate goals by legitimate means 

  • Those who do not have the same opportunity → will achieve those same goals by this saying: 

    • Legitimate goals by illegitimate means 

Escalating Problems in the US: Category of Terrorism has outpaced the US

• right-wing, left-wing, religious, and ethnonationalist

• three broad types of right-wing terrorist organizations

right-wing terrorism

• refers to the use or threat of violence by sub-national or non-state entities whose goals may include racial or ethnic supremacy; opposition to government authority; anger at women (incel movement) and outrage against certain policies like abortion

• has significantly outpaced terrorism from other types of perpetrators

• account for the majority of all terrorist incidents in the US since 1994

• grown significantly in number in the past 6 years

• perpetrated the majority (57%) of all attacks (893 plots and attacks total for all groups) between 1994 and 2020

left-wing terrorism

involves the threat of violence by sub-national or non-state entities that oppose capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism; pursue environmental or animal rights issues; espouse pro-communist or pro-socialist beliefs; or support a decentralized social and political system such as anarchism

• a decentralized mix of actors

• anarchists are fundamentally opposed to a centralized government and capitalism and they have organized plots and attacks against the government, capitalist, and globalization targets

• ex: Antifa

  • contraction of the phrase “anti-fascist” refers to a decentralized network of far-left militants that oppose what they believe are fascist, racist, or otherwise right-wing extremists

religious terrorism

• includes violence in support of a faith-based belief system, such as Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism among many others.

• still hold a threat, however, is not the same level of threat as for European countries

• has killed the largest number of individuals (3,086) - primarily due to 9/11

ethnonationalist terrorism

• refers to the violence in support of ethnic or nationalist goals - often struggles of self-determinism and separatism along ethnic or nationalist lines

Three broad types of right-wing terrorism

white supremacists, anti-government extremists, and incels.

• differences lie in ideology, capabilities, tactics, & level of threat

• similarities

  • lie in the decentralization model: comes from individuals, not groups

White supremacists

• highly decentralized

• whites have their own culture and its superior to others and should exert dominance over others

• many adhere to the great replacement conspiracy: claims that whites are being eradicated by ethnic and racial minorities

• Accelerationists believe that western governments should be accelerated to create radical social change and establish a whites-only ethnostate.

• examples: neo-nazi organizations: natioanlist socialist movement, american nazi party, vanguard america, KKK, proud boys, the three percenters

boogaloo

• anti-government extremists

• endorses a civil war

• often blended in with white supremacist movements

Incels

• involuntary celibates

• conducts acts of violence against women

• composed of a loosely organized virtual community of young males

• believe that one’s place is determined by physical characteristics and that women are responsible for this hierarchy

Personality dimensions that predict violence - origin of violent behavior in the life span

• hyperactivity

• impulsiveness

• poor behavioral control

• attention problems

corporate violence

• difficult to prosecute corporations for criminal violations because of no criminal intent 

• Had to prosecute under regulatory legislation (attempting to prosecute a coporation 

• types

  • general intent

  • strict liability

  • vicarious liability

General Intent

Negligence: failure to use reasonable care, resulting in damage or injury to another

Strict liability

If there is something inherently dangerous in what you do or say; you are liable for that consequence 

Vicarious liability

you are responsible for the actions of your employees (to hold employers responsible)

Insanity defense **

• refers to a defense that a defendant can plead in a criminal trial

• the defendant admits the action but asserts a lack of culpability based on mental illness

• affirmative defense

• attributes to the person’s mental state during the commission of the crime

Mental health Act (2018) **

• establishes the rights and procedures for all involuntary treatment of mentally ill persons whether inpatient or outpatients, and for all voluntary inpatient treatment of mentally ill persons

• an act relating to mental health procedures; providing for the treatment and rights of mentally disabled persons, for voluntary and involuntary examination and treatment and for determinations affecting those charged with crime or under sentence

Structural violence

• acts of violence accepted as being necessary for the maintenance of established patterns of society organization

  • referred to as “violence of the status quo”

  • authorized/critically instrumental in protecting society (legitimate)

  • used to defend and reinforce hierarchical patterns of society

• the maintenance function is rationalized/protected physically and psychologically/linguistically and special forms of communication

• often results in disproportionately adversely affecting more disadvantaged populations

• used to reinforce/maintain a hierarchy of inequality, disregarding the needs and rights of people

• Iadolica/Shupe (2013) argue that violence is a form of power

• emerges at global/systemic echelons of power

institutional violence

• acts of violence emanating in interactions/relationships in society

  • family/familial organizations

  • school/educational organizations

  • workplace/economic organizations

  • place of worship/religious organizations

  • state/political/legal institutions

  • public administrative offices/government agencies/organizations

Surplus Violence

• warns against authorizing violence enacted/committed by democratic governments against their populations like:

  • violence committed by law enforcement agents in the name of “law and order”

  • violence committed by military officers in “defense of freedom and democracy”

John Keane

• democracy is defined as a set of institutions and as a way of life, is a nonviolent means of equally apportioning and publicly monitoring power within and among overlapping communities of people who live according to a wide variety of morals

• Antiethical relationship between violence and democracy

• violence is the greatest enemy of democracy as we know it

• violence is anathema to its spirit an substance

Why is the contemporary caste mass incarceration?

• the success of the civil rights movement and launch of the poor people’s movement made a “major disruption” in the nation’s racial equilibrium had occurred

• had to be race neutral — could not have clear inherent language that embodies racial discrimination

• law and order was enforced - happened to be an increase of crime (baby boomer generation reached crime-prone age) - when black men had the highest unemployment rates

  • this was suspected to have a correlation with the civil rights movement

13th amendement

neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction

14th amendment

no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

15th amendment

the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

• congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Which theory best describes/explains the actions of the men in battalion 101?

both

• differential association has higher similarity however.

What percent of population has a latent trait for violence

2-3%

• just because they have trait does not mean that they will commit violence

gifts-based liberalism

regards life as sacred and a gift

• favors individual choices but acknowledge that our individual choices take place in a framework of the gifts we have received and the responsibilities to others that those gifts entail

• Humanity is a long “procession of ancestors who long came before the individual” and that life is more than just the “pursuit of happiness.” We have obligations to others and our ancestors to live a life that was gifted to us. This approach values the sentiment of the creation of life, and that choice should have limitations when trying to make our society a better place.

autonomy-based liberalism

Believe they have the right to do as they please. As long as they are not harming someone else

• values individual choice to the fullest extent (even the extreme)

disinformation

content known to be false but presented as if it were true. Deliberately mislead audiences to achieve strategic goals.

modern-day example: during the 2016 election, another persistent fake news story was that Trump won both the popular and electoral college votes.

misinformation

content that is presented as if it were true, but whose truth value is not known by the message director, As such, sources of ____ can be unaware that they are misleading audiences

• modern-day example (fake news): vaccination causes autism and gastroenteritis; consumption of alcohol, cow excrements, cow urine, colloidal silver, teas, and essential oils have all been associated with curing COVID-19

attitudinal inoculation

if people are made aware of an imminent attempt to change their beliefs of attitudes and are given information to refute arguments they will encounter, they are more likely to resist persuasion