Free Essays on Violence

What Makes Children Turn to Violence? School violence is a tremendous problem facing today ¡Ã‚ ¦s youth. There are many factors that can contribute to violent actions in schools. Some are child abuse, violence in the home, poverty, easy access to guns, violence in television, and drug and alcohol abuse. The major cause of violence is none of the above, but harassment from others. Many people feel as if they need to result to violence as a result of these negative influences they have received from others as they were growing up. Some people claim that it is the parent ¡Ã‚ ¦s responsibility to make sure that their children are disciplined, but that is not always the case. Those troubled children feel as if they need to release the bottled up emotions that they have felt, so violence towards others seems to be the only method of escape for them from the derogatory implications from others. In high school, many forms of harassment are noticed. Verbal Harassment is the one that is mo st common. It is a highly influential method of convincing others that they are inferior. People feel that they are less of a person just because of what other say to them. But these  ¡Ã‚ §put-downs ¡Ã‚ ¨ can be very effective in making someone feel terrible about themselves. The people who torment others are commonly referred to as bullies. They have a tendency to degrade others either by forms such as name calling, teasing, threatening, hitting, or stealing. Bullying is a major problem that has many negative effects on the wellbeing of students and on their right to learn in a safe environment.  ¡Ã‚ §Bullying can also have negative lifelong consequences ¡Xboth for students who bully and for their victims. Studies have established Parker, 2 that approximately 15 percent of students are either bullied regularly or are initiators of bullying behavior. Direct bullying seems to increase through the elementary school years, peak in the middle school/junior high school years, ... Free Essays on Violence Free Essays on Violence Children Who Witness Domestic Violence: The Invisible Victims Children today are likely to experience or witness violence at home. Researchers are concerned about the effect domestic violence has on children, and has prompted researchers to conduct an increasing number of investigations into this issue. Social learning theory and Erikson's theory of basic trust are two tools used to predict aggressive behavior in children. Children develop their basic sense of trust at very early age. If the child proceeds through this stage with the proper support, they will learn to trust others. Otherwise, if the parents are violent, abusive, or the environment they grow up in is not safe, and then they will lack that inherent trust in others. Later in life, these individuals may become either criminals or the victims of the violence. Over the past half century, violence in the United States has increased dramatically. Children who were raised in a tough, low-income neighborhood often fail to escape exposure to violence. They may witness homicides, assaults, and some may even have had a friend who had been killed. According to recent research, these children have higher violence rates than those kids who grew up in a non-violent neighborhood. Today, children are likely to experience or witness violence in the home. With domestic violence being the most frequent type of violent crime, a child's homes is no longer a safe haven. Statistics show that domestic violence is the major cause of injuries to women; their husbands or lovers kill one third of all women murdered in United States. Unfortunately, a number of these cases occur in the presence of children. These children often show signs of emotional distress and immature behavior at a very young age. These symptoms might affect their behavior throughout their adol escent and adult lives. Most experts believe that children, who are raised in abusive homes, learn that violence is an effective way ... Free Essays on Violence The Impact on Media Violence The Impact of Media Violence â€Å"Monkey see, monkey do† has become a well-known saying in today’s society, but is it correct? Just sixty years ago the invention of the television was viewed as a technological curiosity with black and white ghost-like figures on a screen so small hardly anyone could see them. Today that curiosity has become a constant companion to many, mainly children. From reporting the news and persuading us to buy certain products, to providing programs that depict violence, television has all but replaced written material. Unfortunately, it is these violent programs that are endangering our present-day society. Violent images on television, as well as in the movies, have inspired people to set spouses on fire in their beds, lie down in the middle of highways, extort money by placing bombs in airplanes, rape, steal, murder, and commit numerous other shootings and assaults. Over 1,000 case studies have proven that media violence can have negative af fects on children as well. It increases aggressiveness and anti-social behavior, makes them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence, and it increases their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life. Media violence is especially damaging to young children, age 8 and under1, because they cannot tell the difference between real life and fantasy. Violent images on television and in movies may seem real to these children and sometimes viewing these images can even traumatize them. Despite the negative effects media violence has been known to generate, no drastic changes have been made to deal with this problem that seems to be getting worse. We, as a whole, have glorified this violence so much that movies such as â€Å"Natural Born Killers† and television shows such as â€Å"Mighty Morphin Power Rangers† are viewed as normal, everyday entertainment. It’s even rare now to find a children’s cartoon that does not ... Free Essays on Violence In today’s society our children are attracted to violence no matter were it is being presented. Violence today is affecting our children of tomorrow making them more dangerous as they are growing up. The question is how is this violence accruing and how do we reduce to amount of violence that’s is being presented? Ellen Goodman, writer of â€Å"How to Zap Violence on TV† and Mike Males writer of â€Å"Public Enemy Number One?† have contrasting views on the subject. Violence is a problem that is discussed in both articles. Goodman believes that TV violence is the cause for this behavior. She states that children see that there are few consequences to the person that commits a violent act on television. But on the other hand, Males believes that TV violence is not the only cause for, but the media as well. He states that media violence accounts for 1 to 5 percent of all violence in society. In â€Å"How to Zap Violence on TV† Goodman talks about the effects that TV violence has on children and teenagers. She believes that violence turns out to do a lot of harm when it looks harmless. In a 73 percent of the scene violence was unpunished. Then 53 percent showed no pain, and 16 percent showed long-term problems. However Males talks about the media studies, the findings of the avalanche of research are consistent: child poverty, abuse and neglect underlie every major social problem the nation faces. On addition to that, two million American children are violently injured, sexually abused, or neglected every year by adults who age averages according to the Denver based American Humane Association. How do we gain control over the situation? In the article by Goodman, she writes that the V-chip, the device created to help put a block on violence on TV would not be enough to control the situation. The real problem in the television industry is a creative block. A quote by Donnerstein says, â€Å"Were showing children violence that goes unpuni... Free Essays on Violence What Makes Children Turn to Violence? School violence is a tremendous problem facing today ¡Ã‚ ¦s youth. There are many factors that can contribute to violent actions in schools. Some are child abuse, violence in the home, poverty, easy access to guns, violence in television, and drug and alcohol abuse. The major cause of violence is none of the above, but harassment from others. Many people feel as if they need to result to violence as a result of these negative influences they have received from others as they were growing up. Some people claim that it is the parent ¡Ã‚ ¦s responsibility to make sure that their children are disciplined, but that is not always the case. Those troubled children feel as if they need to release the bottled up emotions that they have felt, so violence towards others seems to be the only method of escape for them from the derogatory implications from others. In high school, many forms of harassment are noticed. Verbal Harassment is the one that is mo st common. It is a highly influential method of convincing others that they are inferior. People feel that they are less of a person just because of what other say to them. But these  ¡Ã‚ §put-downs ¡Ã‚ ¨ can be very effective in making someone feel terrible about themselves. The people who torment others are commonly referred to as bullies. They have a tendency to degrade others either by forms such as name calling, teasing, threatening, hitting, or stealing. Bullying is a major problem that has many negative effects on the wellbeing of students and on their right to learn in a safe environment.  ¡Ã‚ §Bullying can also have negative lifelong consequences ¡Xboth for students who bully and for their victims. Studies have established Parker, 2 that approximately 15 percent of students are either bullied regularly or are initiators of bullying behavior. Direct bullying seems to increase through the elementary school years, peak in the middle school/junior high school years, ... Free Essays on Violence Pop, Bang! When I had just heard it, I didn’t think too much of what it might be. I was thinking, â€Å"Why is someone doing fireworks in the middle of the day?† BANG BANG! What is that noise? It’s getting louder. Where’s my brother? When is he getting home? I hope he has the keys because I forgot mine in the house. I saw my brother walking slowly down the street. â€Å"Matthew,† I called, â€Å"hurry up and open the door!† He must have seen the fear in my face because his innocent smile quickly disappeared. Screeching tires come around the corner; I see two cars racing down the street. â€Å"MATTHEW GET OUT OF THE WAY!† I grab my brother and pull him to safety. â€Å"Get down†¦GET DOWN!† As my brother and I crouched behind a car, questions raced through my mind, and I burned for some answers. How can this be happening to us? This is my neighborhood, and it is suppose to be safe! CRASH! BANG BANG! Oh my God! That’s b een the noise I heard. It was the bullets from a gun. I finally understood that there was an actual drive-by-shooting on my street, again. Why can’t these jerks just get over it! The fact is neighborhoods across the nation are afflicted with these dangerous, even deadly, crimes. This unwanted experience was a wake up call for me in that I realized how big a problem violence in America actually is. Unfortunately, violent acts are not confined to drive-by-shootings. Every time there is a conflict among youth in America it involves some type of weapon and especially guns. Alcohol, growing up in a violent home, and access to guns are some main reasons why youth are solving their anger with violence. Violence is a major issue here in America and an obvious cause of violence is because of alcohol. Alcohol today is more than just a problem among adults, but it has become a problem among teens. During the past ten years we had witnessed a steady decline in the number of alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths in the youth popul... Free Essays on Violence Pornography as Violence against Women â€Å"Pornography is central in creating and maintaining the civil inequality of the sexes. Pornography is a systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex which differentially harms women..." Andrea Dworkin and Catharine A. MacKinnon Pornography is an industry growing at a rapid rate. As its audience expands its consumers are getting younger and younger. I have always been against pornography for a variety of reasons. I now have one new reason. My nine-year-old cousin just got the internet on his computer. The first website he went to was Hooters.com. I had to listen to him talk about the â€Å"hot babes† in bikinis on the site and how he can’t wait until he is old enough to go to Hooters. He wants to marry a Hooters girl because she is a hot babe. If this isn’t testimony to the damage that pornography has on young minds I don’t know what is. Several of these bikini-clad women were printed out on his new color printer. His father commented on the quality of the color. I was appalled. I waited for my aunt to take his computer privileges away or at least shut down the site. She didn’t. How do I explain to this nine year old wrongs of his actions, and is it my place to do so? What’s going to happen when he discovers the other sites with scantily clad women? I fear for this. Some may ask, â€Å"Why is this so damaging?† He is young and curious, a â€Å"boys will be boys† kind of notion. Before I can answer that question I want to show the correlation between pornography and violence against women. I want to expose pornography as abusive to women. I think then that the question will answer itself. I think it is appropriate to first define pornography before I continue. The American Heritage Desk Dictionary defines pornography as written or pictorial matter intended to arouse sexual feelings. This definition gives an erotic, innocent explanation to p...