Since the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, a large focus of the Western Powers, like the United States, has been on the Middle East. Out of this has come a conclusion that this area of the world is prone to be more violent than other parts and this is largely to due to the Islamic religion. This the West has concluded in large part through observation coupled with some qualitative data. However, is this an adequate assertion of the area, and of the religion of Islam? To begin various types of violence will be explored quantitatively and qualitatively to see if there is a difference in the level of violence seen in the Middle East as compared to Western States. Once it has been determined if there exists a difference in the amount of violence in the Middle East, as compared to Western States, it than shall be explored to see what role Islam may play in it.
Comparing Violence
It has been assumed that while the rest of the world appears to be seeing decreasing levels of violence, it appears the Middle East has yet to experience this same trend. By just watching the news or reading the paper, it has appeared that in the past couple of decades there have been either an increase in violence in the Middle East. In addition, it has also appeared that certain types of violence that the West has not experienced for some time still exist within the region. The question this raises then, is the Middle East more violent? On the other hand, is this nothing more than Islamophobia? To find the correct answer both a quantitative and qualitative approach will be taken. Through this patterns should emerge that will lead to answer whether are not the Middle East is more prone to violence than other Western States (Pinker, 20...
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...s Office on Drugs and Crime. (2013). UNODC Homicide Statistics. Retrieved November 24, 2013, from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/homicide.html
This publication is put out by the United Nations and its office on Drug and Crime. The purpose of this publication is straight forward. It is to the homicide rates of each State. The data is collected by various agencies, some associated with the United Nations and some not.
This document is easy to read and to understand. It serves the purpose in which it was created by showing the homicide rates nearly all the States in the world. The underlying issue with it is that not all the data is complete. When it comes to Western, developed, States the data is complete. However, when it comes to less developed states, it is not. This can causes issues if someone is looking for patterns or comparing regions.
In 2012, there were an estimated 14,827 murders and non-negligent manslaughter crimes reported by all agencies in the United States according to the Uniform Crime Report at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Murder and non-negligent manslaughter are defined “as the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another.” A 1.1 percent increase occurred from 2011 to 2012. But it should be noted, this is a 9.9 percent drop from the figure for 2008 and a 10.3 percent decrease from the number of murders recorded in 2003. Of the murders that occurred in 2012, it is estimated that 43.6 percent were reported in the south, 21.0 percent were from the Midwest, 21.0 percent were accounted from the west, and 14.2 percent were from the northeast of the United States. There were 4.7 murders for every 100,000 people in 2012. The murder rate went up 0.4 percent from 2011 to 2012. It went down in 2008 by 12.8 percent and dropped 16.9 percent from 2003. The majority of offenders were over the age of eighteen and they accounted for 9,096 of offenders in 2012. According to the Uniform Crime Report, the number of offenders who murdered in 2012 totaled 14,581. The majority of these offenders were male, totaling 9,425. Female offenders totaled 1,098, and 4,058 were unknown offenders. Black males topped the list as far as race was concerned with 5,531 committing murder. White males followed with 4,582 offenders. There were 4,228 classified as race unknown regarding offenders who murdered in 2012. The victim data reported was 9,917 male victims and 2,834 female victims. Of those victims, 11,549 were over the age of eighteen.
The tragedy of strained relations between Islamic and Judeo-Christian countries is a part of everyday life. One need only pick up a newspaper or check the news story of the day via television, radio, or internet to learn of the latest violent attack by a suicide bomber or military retaliation on such an attack. The terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by countries that are predominantly Islamic with the counter attacks coming from a well-armed Israel, supported by US arms sales as well as US silence. Arecent CNN talk show byline queried, “Are we at war with Islam?” One does sometimes wonder.
Location is a significant factor that contributes to where the pattern of homicides occur in Chicago. This is because overtime particular areas have been developed due to gentrification in city areas including the Northern and Central sides, these changes occur due to influx of wealth. This leaves the Southern and Western sides to deteriorate as the houses and the areas aren’t well looked after due to affluent people leaving it that way causing a ‘slum-like lifestyle’ and low rent for those with low income. Therefore, a higher pattern of homicides in the Southern and Western sides of Chicago occur because those in lower classes tend to resort to violence and crime.
Table 1 of the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January-June, 2015 demonstrates the percent change by population group. The population group is broken down into cities and counties according to population. According to table 1, the crimes with the highest arrest rates were murder, rape, and aggravated assault, followed by robbery and motor vehicle theft. Murder, rape, and aggravated assault fall under Violent Crime Index whereas robbery and motor vehicle theft
Islam is portrayed and is commonly accepted as the most violent and largest direct threat to the West. This is a generalization made by most of the West, but it is not particularly the West or the Islamic people’s fault. There is constant turmoil in Islamic countries in the Middle East and these conflicts are what make the news in the West. The only representation in the media that the Islamic nation gets is that of war. Though most Islamic people are not violent, the select few that do participate in terrorist groups give the rest of the Islam nation a bad image.
According to Armstrong (2001), “The very word Islam, which means “surrender”, is related to the Arabic salam, or peace”(p. 48). Is Islam a violent religion? This is the issue that has been brought up by the class, and it will be debated towards the end of the semester. This question has been raised by many non-Muslims due to the numerous events that occurred throughout the years such as September 11, some managed to find the right answers while others are still doubting Islam and trying identify and understand how it is practiced and know it’s values in order to know whether it is violent or not.
Thomassie, Juan, Destin Frasier, Anthony DeBarros, Andrea Fuller, and Shayli Jimenez. "Explore the Data on U.S. Mass Killings since 2006." USA Today. Gannett, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2015.
Reduce the Threat, Incidence and Prevalence of Violent Crime and Drug Trafficking: FY 2011 Overview. (2011).Intelligence (p. 6). Washington, D. C. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2011factsheets/pdf/reduce-drug-trafficking.pdf
Robinson, B.A. (2002, October 14). Islam: Is it a religion of violence or of peace.
In both given articles, “The Roots of Muslim Rage” by Bernard Lewis, and “The Roots of Muslim Rage Revisited” by Nicolaas J.E. van der Zee, argue about the enhancement of the Muslim fundamentalism with different perspectives; however, I believe that Lewis’ view may be quiet misleading to the actual perception. Lewis indicates that Muslim fundamentalism is conceived through the Muslim community’s oppression and dissatisfaction with the West’s political involvement, as well as “Islam is a source of aggression” . In defiance of Lewis’ opinion, the word ‘Islam’ comes from the word peace as well as the will of submission to God. The notion of aggression and violence that Lewis conceptualizes to be the headline of Islam does not have any supporting
The article, “Why Is There So Much Conflict in the Middle East?” written by Mirjam E. Sørli et. al corresponds a great deal with the text Politics and Change in the Middle East as far as the reasons for conflict in the Middle East. Sørli et. al disputes the idea of “Middle East exceptionalism,” which says that there is something different about Middle Easterners that make them prone to violence and conflict (142). Sørli et. al says this is not true, but rather there are very simple reasons as to why there has been conflict in the Middle East. As stated, the lack of regional natural resources such as water, oil, and arable la...
G. (2016, September 4). Serial killer statistics. Retrieved November 11, 2017, from http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/serial killer information center/project
During most of America’s recorded history, measuring crime and violence was not an accurate science. Crime statistics were recorded at local levels, but oftentimes this was not a priority of law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, statistics were often skewed to reflect better performance of these agencies than was the case. Only recently, during the last generation, has crime statistics been measured on a national level to determine crime patterns. The easiest crimes to measure, because of their nature, were homicide and auto theft.
"The Globallization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crie Threat Assessment." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2007): 1-314.
. U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Capital Punishment 2005," appendix Table 4(2006)