VIOLENT CRIME
Evaluation of Violent Crimes
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology (2015), violence can take place in many forms within the society. However, the two most distinct forms are the use of either intimidation or applied force. Violent crimes can be linked to drugs and substance abuse and can occur during robberies or illegal usage of weapons. In addition, violent crimes can also occur in domestic situations as explored in this exposition. The majority of violent crimes are as a result of an assault, which are reported to have increased by 55% between 1996 and 2007 (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2015). Violent crime not only affects individuals, but also the community by affecting the economy and resulting in loss of lives. Family and domestic violence are some of the crimes that the police force strives hard to regulate due to frequent occurrence.
Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016), there were 158 individuals affected by family and domestic violence in 2015. These cases were linked to over 38% of homicide cases in Australia. The total number of victims affected by family and domestic violence entailed 65% females. Not all the cases involved the use of weapons as depicted from this statistics; only 65% of the death cases were caused by weapons such as firearms and knives. The other 35% did not involve use of any weapon. Only forty-three victims were killed using knife and twelve victims using fire arm (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). These statistics portray the need for exploration on domestic violence issues in Australia to come up with a succinct solution to tackle this issue. It is vital to under the cause of domestic violence by analyzing criminological theories.
Domestic Violence Crime
There have been several cases of domestic homicide cases which trigger many security questions within the Australian security forces (Chan and Payne, 2013). As such, these cases depict that the security force fails at one point or the other in regulating domestic security issues. An instance of domestic violence leading to death is a case where a young mother named Tara Brown was entrapped in an overturned car in Gold Coast after being beaten using a fire hydrant by her ex-spouse Lionel Patel (NewsComAu, 2015). This case sparked new efforts within state and federal levels to come up with better ways of dealing with domestic issues. Previously, Patea had committed a crime of murdering Ms. Brown and was standing a trial. It was sad that the security did not follow up on this case well enough to avoid more deaths caused by this offender. Another case in Gold Coast was reported of Steven Lock who shot his partner in front of McDonald’s store and later took his own life (NewsComAu, 2015). All these cases are linked in one way with a domestic situation which aroused emotional changes. As way of tackling such criminal activities, it is vital to explore the causes as argued in strain theory.
Cause of Family and Domestic Violence
According to Chan and Payne (2013), intimate partner homicide (IPH) is one of the criminal activities linked to Family and Domestic Violence (FDV). IPH is a crime which is aroused by particular yearning within offenders. As such, the offenders are driven by the urge of revenge or emotional drive (Eriksson and Mazerolle, 2013). Women and men who engage in this type of crime experience different emotion changes and situations several weeks or months before committing the violent crime. Among men, there are several factors which elicit the urge to commit IPH which include jealousy, rage, suspecting infidelity, involuntary separation and losing control (Eriksson and Mazerolle, 2013). On the contrary, women may kill their partners due to social isolation or fear and desperation resulting from domestic violence. While dealing with this type of crime, it is necessary to take into account the emotion and situational experiences affecting different families.
Strain Theory
The cause of violent crime as earlier discussed include stressors within the society. Domestic violent crimes have been discussed to result from situation affecting families or emotional change in one partner. Strain theory accounts for most violent crimes since it states that strains or stressors within a community setup increase the likelihood of committing crime (Sigfusdottir, Kristjansson and Agnew, 2012). Such strains causes changes into negative emotions, which elicit anger and frustration. Such changes in emotion create pressure among individuals for engaging in a corrective action which results in crime. Violent crimes may be utilized by offenders to escape strain, alleviate the negative emotions or revenge against the cause of strain (Downes, Rock and McLaughlin, 2016). In real life situations, people who experience unemployment even after frequent trials may opt to engage in violent robberies. This may be a way of obtaining money or as a response for alleviating the cause of strain. Moreover, they may engage in the selling of drugs as a way of obtaining income.
The first modern classic strain theory was stated by Emile Durkheim (Douglas, 2015). This theory argued on the inability to achieve monetary success due to broader goals within the society. Douglas (2015) posit that there have been attempts to revise this theory since its formulation through stating that crime may also result from achieving several goals in life and not to only achieve monetary success. One of the widely accepted versions of strain theory is the General Strain Theory (GST) introduced by Robert Agnew in 1992 (Sigfusdottir, Kristjansson and Agnew, 2012). This theory accepted that several types of strains might result with a crime such as negative treatment, inability to achieve set goals in life and loss of valuable possessions in life. Violent crimes are linked with this theory since offenders are driven by the urge of satisfying personal interests. Nonetheless, such crimes in most families are caused by emotional and situational causes, but some of the cases may be linked to mental illness.
Bibliography
Australian Institute of Criminology, (2015). Australian Institute of Criminology – Violence. [online] Available at: http://www.aic.gov.au/crime_types/violence.html [Accessed 27 Jul. 2017].
Australian Bureau of Statistics, (2016). 4510.0 – Recorded Crime – Victims, Australia, 2015. [online] Available at http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4510.0~2015~Main%20Features~Experimental%20Family%20and%20Domestic%20Violence%20Statistics~6 [Accessed 27 Jul. 2017].
Chan, A. and Payne, J., 2013. Homicide in Australia: 2008-09 to 2009-10 National Homicide Monitoring Program Annual Report. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
Douglas, J.D., 2015. Social meanings of suicide. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Downes, D., Rock, P. and McLaughlin, E., 2016. Understanding deviance: a guide to the sociology of crime and rule-breaking. New York: Oxford University Press.
Eriksson, L. and Mazerolle, P., 2013. A general strain theory of intimate partner homicide. Aggression and violent behavior, 18(5), pp.462-470.
NewsComAu. (2015). The crimes that left us stunned. [online] Available at: http://www.news.com.au/national/crime/australias-worst-crimes-in-2015/news-story/17777baae928809a0b116d6c26b6d593 [Accessed 27 Jul. 2017].
Sigfusdottir, I.D., Kristjansson, A.L. and Agnew, R., 2012. A comparative analysis of general strain theory. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(2), pp.117-127.
