The interpersonal violence that will be discussing in this paper will be homicide. What will also be discussed is 4 main parts of it and that will be the definition of the posed topic along with statistics to explain and back up claims that are being presented. Consequences are often especially when it comes to homicide, the loss of someone’s life is always what ends up happening. After discussing that we will talk about “why” this violence occurs and why it’s often as well. From its biological reasons to its physiological counterpart. Risk factors as well. How we can possibly control this action of violence in the United States will be discussed such as the approaches to a punishment. Lastly, comes the “what” factor of this paper and in that part we will delve into how we can prevent this violence going forward in the future. Concluding my paper, we will be summarizing and highlighting key points of the essay and the author’s closing words following that.
What:
Before we delve into this paper, however we must become familiar with the actual definition of homicide. Homicide; by definition is the deliberate and unlawful killing of one person by another; murder. Often times this can be corresponded with murder which is the unlawful “premeditated” killing of one human being by another. Notice I put the parentheses on the word premeditated because that’s what separates a murder from a homicide. You have to first have the prior thought before the action in order for it to be a significant difference.
Statistically, according to statista in 2017, the United States had a total of 17,284 reported murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases in the U.S. The state that happened to have the highest number of that number belongs to the state of California with 1,830. In New Jersey we had 324. The negative consequences of this type of violence is the loss of the individual for the obvious reasons but after that, most think that is all, but sadly it’s not. Our daily life activities that we engage in everyday are no altered whether physically or emotionally something changes. So many families an individual are now forced to adapt without that person whose life was taken and now have to deal with the psychological affects that come with it at all. Depressions sets in, drinking might arise because of this along with numerous issues that are not present in the individuals live that was not there before.
According to Krug et al. (2002), “The human cost in grief and pain, of course, cannot be calculated. In fact, much of it is almost invisible” (p. 3). It is also stated by Rheingold that Homicide survivors tend to suffer from often unique but similar experiences when compared to direct victims of crime. The similarity that makes homicide survivors relate to other victims of crime range from economic stressors, being stigmatized and the actual fear of recurrence. Adding those factors in plus an anxiety when frequent reminders or triggers of the event and you now have caused an individual to be at risk for mental health problems now and going into the future. As far as the prevalence of it in the United States, according to an article by Jeff Asher of FiveThirtyEight, he states that a new round of crime statistics that was released in September of 2017 about the 2016 murders there were an estimated 17,250 murders last year, up from 15,883 in 2015. Studies of this finding are from the FBI’s 2016 UCR program which gives the first official data on last year’s national crime trends.
Some more consequences that occur according to World Health Organization, beyond the direct impact it reiterates what was spoken on earlier in the paper, especially when it comes to the surviving family members of these tragic situations. The Psychological affects that come with it are almost inevitable. From PTSD to anxiety and depression, the possibilities of trauma are endless. Even having a heightened sense of vulnerability is common with the survivors of this experience. Problems in school and work have been found out as stressors as well. Going forward with the consequences, the mention off expenses was brought up as well. Homicide often times leads the families affected by it are met with wages they cannot afford to keep up with. From funeral costs to a hospital bill, and if they want to settle it out in court then the lawyer fees come into play as well.
One situation that sometimes comes up as frequent in these cases and I have dealt with this personally with my father, and that is sometimes the victim is the breadwinner, then that means the family he looks after is left in a financial drought and sometimes cannot cope anymore now that they are gone. I can definitely say from a personal not that this is hard, but through a great support system, things were able to get back on track for the time being. Aside from personal situations and experiences in one’s life. It can also affect the society too. Also when rates of homicide are high in some areas of the state with a criminal justice system that is weak but corrupt can be a contributing factor to the development; socially and economic wise.
Why:
Why? I’m sure that is the question we all ask ourselves when someone becomes a victim of homicide, I know I have. There are many answers to these very broad questions, but maybe we can narrow it down to common reasons. Dr. Perry of Scholastic reading looks back a year after the Columbine shooting and tries to look at some observations that are common throughout history to see why violence emerges. His first reason suggests that when we become desensitized to death or killing, that’s when the violence increases. Sometimes death and violence can surround someone, in the sense that they have been around it since the childhood, or maybe the environment they are in, homicide can be prevalent in the area.
When this occurs, its seems as if the value of human life can diminish and the horror of violent death can decrease (Perry,1999). Homicide also occurs when individuals become detached more from each other and also from unifying beliefs that are known for being common. Unless a relationship/connection is established, the regard for a person welfare diminishes. However, when we do establish a common base with an individual or even values we are less likely to be aggressive or violent to those whom we share the community with. When isolation and and being marginalized become apparent along with not having a connect to those around them, the violence will increase.
When it comes to risk factors, homicide is caused by a mix of factors at the individual, relationship, community and societal levels. (WHO,2015) The structure of the demographic is a guaranteed risk factor for homicide. When we find that males make up a great amount of a population that means the rate of homicide becomes more apparent. Political changes in certain regimes may have a a interesting affect and can be associated with an increase in homicide as well. Along with these facts also comes the possibility of not having a good governance and effect rule of law. One factor I personally find very interesting is how Poverty, economic inequality, ethnic fractionalization, and the availability of guns and alcohol are also risk factors for homicide. (WHO,2015).
How:
How we control or punish this type of violence in the United States? Well, that varies but almost every time one occurs a punishment is sent down. Crime Museum has an article called “Punishment for Murder” that tackles on some of the questions we all have been vying for. For starters, he admits that “how to punish” has been debated for decades, and whether its actually justifiable to inflict the death penalty upon an individual is a whole story in itself. Nowadays we see more imprisonment then the death penalty and that is evident with the money us tax payers use to keep murderers behind there. A way that America controls homicide, or at least tries too is through the strengthening of gun laws and regulating weapons in the United States. For most murderers however, imprisonment seems to be the most common as a form of punishment. Depending on the severity of the murder will warrant the longest sentence and more often then not it is life without the possibility of parole., this usually ties in with first degree murder. As for the second degree murder, that’s also known as the “heat of the moment” killing and this specific one in controlled through a lesser sentence.
What:
Now that we have all of this information about homicide, how in the world can we prevent this violence from happening? Well there are a few ways we can. One way according to Dr Perry is to “Be part of the solution” Ways we can prevent this in the future is being conscious of watching violence on television, whether it is yourself or while your are with someone younger such as a sibling, change the channel. Getting them out of the house or watching a safer program will help greatly. “You may be able to understand something is “just television,” but a young child cannot.” (Dr. Perry, 1999). Getting involved in a Survivor of violence group can help as well, as they can most likely telly you the truth about violence or even listening to someone who’s parent or sibling had become a victim to homicide. In class we learned of the cause “Cure4Camden” by Fresh and Maalik. The basis of “Cure4Camden” is “Cure4Camden is a community based violence intervention program to stop shootings and violence in Camden City using methods and strategies associated with disease control – detecting and interrupting conflicts, identifying and treating high risk individuals, and changing social norms.” (C., 2018). Another way of preventing this violence in the future is having better treatment of mental health problems and by that I mean having the correct diagnosis and/or treating patents with the correct medicine needed. Better law enforcement and security technologies could certainly be of use as well. Overall, I feel as if America should treat Violence as a public health concern. We need to use the resources readily available to us to reach everyone and fast. Early on through childhood such as the D.A.R.E. program can certainly help.
Conclusion:
Now that we have reached this point, let’s look over everything. We have define what homicide is and that it is the deliberate and unlawful killing of one person by another; and often coincides with murder. We delved into the question of why this tragic situation occurs and why it is frequent in America, and from that we have gathered that homicide also occurs when individuals become detached more from each other and also from unifying beliefs that are known for being common. Through this research we also see how punishments move more towards imprisonment of offenders and regulating gun laws, although the battle for the “correct and just” punishment for homicide is still debated even today. Lastly, we find a few preventions that could help from joining nonprofits such as “Cure4Camden” to being involved in individuals lives and just giving them knowledge on information unbeknownst to other individuals, mainly in poverty too. If you give someone in poverty a gun or a way to induce them into committing a homicide, you are helping their current situation by them getting a means of power while hurting the community as well. Having better treatment of mental health problems can help as well going forward with homicide cases. With all of this information researched, just how prevalent will it be going forward? Will we find an answer to completely stop homicide? No, but if we can keep reducing it going forward I have no doubt in my mind that we can start to ease up on our worried and keep marching on