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MOST ACTS of violence are not considered
a crime. However, when a person thinks of
violence, he or she does not only think of
the harm done, but also that the action
is illegitimate. Yet ‘physical hurt
done to others’ counts as
violence only
in certain contexts. To illustrate this point,
the State can execute grievous harm, and
this becomes termed as part of government
or political organisation instead of violence.
This is especially if the violence was used to
bring about social order.
Whenever the term violence
is used, we must, therefore,
ask the questions: who is
labelling it, and what is
the social position of the
person or persons doing
the labelling? In Jamaica
we publicly label inner-
city youth as troublemak-
ers. The result has been
that physical force used
against them is often treated
as something other than violence since it is
thought that such treatment is necessary to
maintain social order. Similarly, inner-city
youth who use physical force against the
police describe their actions as ‘resistance
against Babylon’. In this context, they see
themselves as the victims trying to escape
oppression. Clearly then, violence is a
concept that can be manoeuvred into an ide-
ological ambience (Riches 1986).
The nature of violence is problematic. The
practice of violence is highly visible to the
senses. This often has an impact on the way
accounts of violence are relayed to the listen-
er. The discharge of violence is also highly
unpredictable, both in terms of the actual
physical harm done and in terms of how a
sequence of violent acts develops. This means
that very few persons actually study violence
carefully. In fact, most persons who write
about violence do so from distant obser-
vation or from an ‘armchair’.
Topics in
the series:
Situational analysis
of violence in
Jamaica
A model explaining
Jamaica’s violence
Why gangs exist and
persist: Why boys
join
The brain of a repeat
killer
Predicting gang war
from patterns of mur-
ders: multiple and
serial killings
Paramilitary policing
and the Jamaican
youth: What must
change?
A holistic approach
to reducing youth
violence: examination
of various options
WHO IS LABELLING VIOLENCE?
WHICH IS MORE
DANGEROUS?
In the Second World War, nine million
people died each year. About 12 mil-
lion children die each year due mainly
to the action of middle-class policy-
makers around the world. So which is
more dangerous? Structural violence
usually leads to direct violence! The
children we cause to be hungry do
not always hold their tummies and
cry. Some fight back violently!
Violence occurs in many different forms – from threats at
one extreme through to homicide at the other. Any discus-
sion of violence must take into account that three parties are
usually involved: the performer, the victim, and the witness.
PUBLISHED:
JANUARY 24, 2017