Violence essays

Violence essays Violence is, at its core, a physical act intended to injure, damage, hurt or destroy another person. Webster's New World Dictionary also offers " great force or strength of feeling, conduct or expression; vehemence, fury" as an alternate definition. But to understand violence as a concept, one must consider more than it's simple definition. The motivations behind violence vary according to the situation, and there are different types of violence as well. The causes, perpetrators and victims of must be considered in order to fully understand violence as a concept. The causes of violence are intricately tied to the demographics of the people involved. The most common types of violence include: gangs and youth violence, violence among certain ethnic groups, and violence against women. These three categories by no means cover the gamut of violent acts, but many of the most common incidents of violence fit into one of these Gang violence depends on strength in numbers, and they typically appear in larger cities as grass-roots organizations among teenagers. The purpose and goals of gangs vary; some gangs are mainly motivated by economics: selling drugs, extorting from merchants and gambling. Other gangs are primarily protection vehicles and social organizations. Violence becomes a part of the gang under the following circumstances: "escalation of ordinary rough-and-tumble behavior, which can turn into an issue of status, competition with other gangs, labeling by others as being violent, and/or group cohesion processes which are reinforced via violent behavior" ("Gangs"). Also, gang homicides are typically attributed to fear and retaliation, and while most gang members join as teens, "the lack of economic opportunities for inner-city youth has led many gang members to continue gang membership rather than "growing out" of their gangs and ...