Theories of Violent Offending

What is Violent Offending?

Violent offending is a type of criminal behavior that varies widely in severity.
It is intended by the actor to harm or injure another person.
The recipient has not consented to the imposition of harm.
Violence (World Report on Violence and Health, 2002):
- "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation."
Aggression (Heimann, 2022):
- "Any form of behavior that is intended to harm or injure another living being, which is motivated to avoid this treatment."
Conflict (Heimann, 2022):
- "A social behavior in which at least two people enter into a communication relationship and at least one person at least has the feeling of being impaired by the other person—even if this person actually neither commits nor intends the impairment."
Types of interpersonal violence (NZCASS groupings):
- Physical violence and abuse
  - In scope: assault, kidnapping and abduction, robbery
  - Out of scope: Deprivation/Neglect, Coercive & Controlling behaviours.
- Sexual violence and abuse
  - In scope: sexual violation, indecent assault
  - Out of scope: indecent exposure (collected in the NZCASS but not counted in statistics)
- Psychological violence
  - In scope: threats, damage to property - personal, damage to property - household (when the victim had contact with the offender, or if the victim was given information about who the offender was and knew them well)
Family Violence Act 2018 Definition:
- Family violence means violence inflicted against a person by someone with whom they are or have been in a family relationship.
- Violence includes:
  - Physical abuse
  - Sexual abuse
  - Psychological abuse
- Violence against a person includes a pattern of coercive or controlling behavior made up of acts of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, that may cause cumulative harm.
- Violence against a person may be dowry-related violence.

How Common is Violent Offending?

Homicide is responsible for more violent deaths than armed conflict.
Organized criminal groups/gangs can have sudden and sharp impacts on the number of intentional homicides.
Sociopolitical homicide constitutes at least 9% of global homicides.
Women continue to be most at risk of deadly violence at home.
Men, mostly young, remain the most likely victims and perpetrators of homicide.
The Americas present a greater risk of criminal violence per capita than any other region
Per capita homicide rates (2021):
- New Zealand: 1.4 per 100,000
- Australia: 0.8 per 100,000
- Canada: 2.1 per 100,000
- USA (2022): 7.5 per 100,000
  - By firearm: 5.9 per 100,000
NZ Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) 2024:
- 30% of adults experienced at least one offense of any type
- 7% experienced at least one incident of interpersonal violence
- 4% experienced at least one incident of violent offense
- 3% experienced at least one incident of threats and damage
- 2% experienced at least one incident of sexual assault
- There were 59 incidents of an offense, 18 incidents of interpersonal violence, 10 incidents of violent offenses, 8 incidents of threats and damages, and 5 incidents of sexual assault per 100 adults
Family and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Offending in NZ (2024):
- 2.3% of adults experienced at least one incident of family offense (6 incidents per 100)
- 1.4% of adults experienced at least one offense by an intimate partner (4 incidents per 100)
- 0.9% of adults experienced at least one offense by other family member (2 incidents per 100)
- Lifetime prevalence:
  - 16.6% of adults who have ever had a partner report experiencing intimate partner violence
  - 24.6% of adults report experiencing sexual violence
2024 prison population in NZ by most serious offense type:
- Sexual Assault: 20.7%
- Acts Intended To Cause Injury: 20.5%
- Unlawful Entry With Intent/Burglary: 10.6%
- Illicit Drug Offenses: 9.6%
- Homicide: 8.4%
- Robbery, Extortion: 6.2%
- Offences Against Justice: 5.8%
- Theft: 4.9%
- Abduction, Harassment: 3.6%
- Prohibited And Regulated Weapons: 2.3%
- Fraud, Deception: 2.0%
- Traffic: 1.8%
- Property Damage: 1.7%
- Public Order: 1.0%
- Dangerous Or Negligent Acts: 0.6%
- Miscellaneous Offences: 0.3%

Who Engages in Violent Offending in NZ?

Men account for 87% of homicide offenders; almost half are 30 or younger.
Social Deprivation Index:
- Homicide offenders often come from the most socially deprived areas.
Relationship of Victim to Offender:
- Couple: 15%
- Parent: 4%
- Child: 10%
- Other Family: 6%
- Not family but linked to family: 53%
- Not family - other: 11%
IPV offending:
- National Family Violence Survey (1975 and 1985):
  - Last 12 months:
    - 16% total sample victimization
    - 12.1% of men and 11.6% women reported perpetration
- Large meta-analyses (Desmarais et al., 2012a, 2012b):
  - More than 1 in 3 women (35.8%) and 1 in 5 men (21.7%) had experienced physical violence in a heterosexual intimate relationship in their lifetime
  - Rates for the past year were 18.8% for women and 19.8% for men
  - Approximately 1 in 3 women (31.5%) and 1 in 5 men (18.4%) reported perpetrating physical violence in an intimate relationship in their lifetime
  - Rates for the past year were 28.7% for women and 22.3% for men
- NZ CASS (2018-2024):
  - 3% of women and 1% of men report experiencing family violence in the past year
- Christchurch Health and Development Study (Fergusson et al., 2005):
  - “men and women reported similar experiences of victimization and perpetration of domestic violence”
- Dunedin Longitudinal Study (Moffitt et al., 2001):
  - “both sexes participated in abuse, particularly in clinical abusive couples having injury and/or official agency intervention”
- Severity:
  - “We can therefore conclude that aggression and violence to a partner…shows an increasing sex difference in the male direction as the severity and dangerousnesss of the act increases.” Archer (2018)
- Intimate Partner Deaths (2009-2018):
  - 76% of offenders were men
  - 70% of those who died were women
Groups with significantly higher rates of lifetime experience of IPV than the NZ average (NZCVS, 2020)

Summary

Many different types of violent offending.
Important to distinguish legal and psychological constructs.
Violent offending is a minority of overall crime, but it remains a serious problem, internationally and in NZ.
Rates depend on data collection method and time period.
People who engage in violent offending similar to those who engage in other offending.