The Causes and Factors of Today’s Violent Crimes. Is the Media Responsible?

The causes and roots of violence are a subject of endless debates. Every time we look back at our history, as far as the point that we could reach, violent and aggressive behaviors could be easily tracked. Stories of people who committed such acts are indicating that violent and aggression are parts of the human civilization from the primitive lives of yesterday to our modern lives today. What is aggression? “Aggression is a behavior characterized by strong self-assertion with hostile or harmful tones. Under some circumstances, aggression may be a normal reaction to a threat. Alternatively, it may be abnormal, unprovoked or reactive behavior” (“Aggression: Causes” bettermedicine.com). What really causes a violent reaction from a person is not a clear thing to conclude and document because we as humans are different in how we perceive things and react to them (“Aggression: Causes” bettermedicine.com). We all might share some physical features but mentally we all have different emotions and reactions towards anything we might face. There is a well-known and an influential story on literature in all around the world, that’s known as one of the subjects that address violence in the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, that is the story of Cain and Abel. The story of Cain and Abel is mentioned as the first violent act that led to death. Therefore, Abel is seen as the first martyr. On the other hand, Cain is represented as the root of homicide and evil in general (Nauta, Rein, 2008). In today’s world the media is blamed by many as a source of violence, but I would like to disagree with their statements because I think the media might influence them, but there must be other factors that push them to commit the act...

... middle of paper ...

..., 2001.

Merritt, Rob, Brooks Brown. No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death at Columbine. New York: Lantern Books, 2002. Print.

Nauta, Rein. Cain and Abel: Violence, Shame and Jealousy. OpenAccess: 8 August 2008. Print.

Pooley, Eric, et al.” Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Portrait of a Deadly Bond.” Time.com, May, 1999. Web. August 3, 2011.

Sung Hong, Jun, et al. The social ecology of the Columbine High School shootings. Elsevier, 2010. Print.

Threat assessment in schools: a guide to managing threatening situations and to creating safe school climates. Washington D.C: U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education, May 2002. Print.

U.S Bureau of Justice Statistics. Report to the Nation on Crime and Justice, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S Department of Justice, 1988. Print.

“Unemployment rates for States.” bls.gov, July 22, 2011. Web. August1, 2011.