Tag: violence

Political Violence In America Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon
IN OTHER NEWS

Political Violence In America Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon

A warning about the threat of political violence heading into the 2022 midterm elections was issued to state and local law enforcement officials by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 28, 2022. The bulletin was released the same day that Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hospitalized after a home invasion by a lone right-wing extremist seeking to harm her. This incident is the latest in an increasing stream of extremist confrontations taking place across the United States in recent years. These incidents have primarily targeted Democrats, including a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. But threats from both sides of the political spectrum are up significantly. And, of course, there was the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at th...
Gun Sales And Gun Violence In Pandemic America – An Expert Weighs In On The Latest Trends
IMPACT, VIDEO REELS

Gun Sales And Gun Violence In Pandemic America – An Expert Weighs In On The Latest Trends

Gun sales have risen in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Feb. 28, 2022, SciLine interviewed Garen Wintemute – an emergency medicine physician at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center and director of the California Firearm Violence Research Center – about what’s driving this change and what gun usage and culture looks like in America two years into the pandemic. The Conversation has collaborated with SciLine to bring you highlights from the discussion, which have been edited for brevity and clarity. What does the research tell us about who owns guns in the United States and why? Garen Wintemute: The traditional population of gun owners are white, non-Hispanic men. But for several years, the demographic profile of gun owners in the United States ha...
Flight Attendants’ Jobs Have Never Been More Dangerous – Violence On Planes Is At An All-Time High
Journalism, WORK

Flight Attendants’ Jobs Have Never Been More Dangerous – Violence On Planes Is At An All-Time High

The fight broke out over bags. After the plane touched down in Miami, one passenger was not getting his luggage down from the overhead bin fast enough, at least not in the eyes of the man behind him. That man, who is White, started shouting racial slurs at the other passenger, a Black man. In the front of the plane, flight attendant Cher Taylor heard the commotion just before the angry man punched the one pulling down his bags until he fell on his back into a row of seats. Taylor started running. “I’ll beat you good, I’ll kill you,” the man was shouting, punctuating the end of each sentence with a racial slur. Taylor, a Black woman, tried to step between them, unsure of how to intervene. When the White man finally stepped back, leaving the other man on the ground, he and his family walk...
A New Study Finds Gun Violence Soared During The COVID-19 Pandemic – But The Reasons Why Are Complex
IN OTHER NEWS

A New Study Finds Gun Violence Soared During The COVID-19 Pandemic – But The Reasons Why Are Complex

Paddy Ssentongo, Penn State and Jennifer McCall-Hosenfeld, Penn State In a new study, we found that the overall U.S. gun violence rate rose by 30% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the year before. In 28 states, the rates were substantially higher between March 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, compared to the pre-pandemic period from Feb. 1, 2019, through Feb. 29, 2020. There were 51,063 incidents of gun violence events resulting in injury or death in the United States in the first 13 months of the pandemic compared to 38,919 incidents in the same time span pre-pandemic. CC BY-ND Early in the pandemic, gun sales in the United States surged, with more than 20% of these purchases by first-time buyers. And access to firearms is a well-established risk factor for gun-rel...
State Laws Are Beginning To Recognize That Domestic Violence Isn’t About Just Physical Violence
Journalism, SEX & RELATIONSHIPS

State Laws Are Beginning To Recognize That Domestic Violence Isn’t About Just Physical Violence

Three or more U.S. women are murdered every day by their current or former intimate partner. That may in part be due to a failure of state laws to capture the full range of behavior that constitutes domestic abuse. The law continues to treat intimate partner violence like a bar fight – considering only what happened in a given incident and not all the prior abuse history, such as intimidation and entrapment. Research shows, however, that domestic abuse is not about arguments, short tempers and violent tendencies. It’s about domination and control. Men who kill their female partners usually dominate them first – sometimes without physical violence. Indeed, for 28% to 33% of victims, the homicide or attempted homicide was the first act of physical violence in the relationship. Most state...
4 Essential Reads – How Do You Talk To Your Child About Violence?
Journalism

4 Essential Reads – How Do You Talk To Your Child About Violence?

Children are exposed to images of violence almost every day, whether through the media or in real life. Consumption of violent imagery can take a harmful toll on a child’s mental and emotional well-being, research shows. Parents, especially those with young children, may be asking themselves how to talk about violence with their kids. Here are four articles from The Conversation U.S. that offer insight into how to have hard conversations with children about violence. 1. Teach children to be resilient Vanessa LoBlue, an assistant professor of psychology at Rutgers University-Newark, writes about ways parents can foster a supportive environment to help children develop resilience in stressful situations. Genuinely listening to children talk about how they feel not only shows care and acc...
Research Shows That The ‘Bystander Effect’ Is Real – When More People Witness Violence, It’s More Likely Someone Will Step Up And Intervene
IMPACT

Research Shows That The ‘Bystander Effect’ Is Real – When More People Witness Violence, It’s More Likely Someone Will Step Up And Intervene

The most powerful evidence for the prosecution at the trial of Derek Chauvin was a video showing the then-Minneapolis police officer pinning a pleading George Floyd to the ground by kneeling on his neck until he grew silent and then died. On the witness stand, the teenager who captured the incident on her smartphone, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, expressed regret for not doing more on the day of the crime. As a professor whose major field of research is the application of psychology and game theory to ethics, I believe that Frazier’s regret about not physically intervening illuminates two major points: First, a witness to a troubling situation who is in a group may feel a lesser sense of personal responsibility than a single individual. Second, someone in a group of people who can see on...
During The Pandemic Domestic Violence Calls For Help Increased But Answers Haven’t Gotten Any Easier
SOCIETY

During The Pandemic Domestic Violence Calls For Help Increased But Answers Haven’t Gotten Any Easier

Domestic violence rose globally in 2020 – so much so that doctors have called it “a pandemic within a pandemic.” The National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, a team of national experts tasked with assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the justice system, recently estimated that in the United States, domestic violence incidents increased 8.1% on average following stay-at-home orders. Worldwide, the United Nations estimates there was a 20% increase in domestic violence incidents across its 193 member states during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns. We are criminologists with expertise in domestic violence and policing, respectively. To understand whether and how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted calls for help for domestic violence in the U.S., we examined short- and long-term trends in ...
5 Essential Reads On Police Violence Against Black Men: As The Derek Chauvin Trial Begins In George Floyd Murder Case
VIDEO REELS

5 Essential Reads On Police Violence Against Black Men: As The Derek Chauvin Trial Begins In George Floyd Murder Case

The trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is underway in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with the death of George Floyd, who was Black, during an arrest last May. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, Floyd – handcuffed and face down on the pavement – said repeatedly that he could not breathe, while other officers looked on. A video of Floyd’s agonizing death soon went viral, triggering last summer’s unprecedented wave of mass protests against police violence and racism. Chauvin’s murder trial is expected to last up to four weeks. These five stories offer expert analysis and key background on police violence, Derek Chauvin’s record and racism in U.S. law ...
Even When It’s Not A Hate Crime, Racism Is Behind Anti-Asian American Violence
Journalism

Even When It’s Not A Hate Crime, Racism Is Behind Anti-Asian American Violence

Over the past year, attacks on Asian Americans have increased more than 150% over the previous year, including the March 16 murders of eight people, including six Asian American women, in Atlanta. Some of these attacks may be classified as hate crimes. But whether they meet that legal definition or not, they all fit a long history of viewing Asian Americans in particular ways that make discrimination and violence against them more likely. I have researched and taught on Asian America for 20 years, including on the pernicious effects of stereotypes and attacks on individuals. Race can play a role in violence and prejudice, even if the offender does not clearly express a racist intent. Much remains unknown about the attacks in Atlanta, but the man charged with the murders has said he did ...