Understanding Violence
Types of Violence
- Self-Directed
- Interpersonal
- Collective
This initial categorization differentiates between violence a person inflicts upon himself or herself, violence inflicted by another individual or by a small group of individuals, and violence inflicted by larger groups such as states, organized political groups, militia groups and terrorist organizations.
Nature of Violent Acts
- Physical
- Sexual
- Psychological
- Deprivation and/or Neglect
This is a framework for understanding the complex patterns of violence taking place around the world, as well as violence in the everyday lives of individuals, families and communities.
Types of Prevention
- Universal interventions – approaches aimed at groups or the general population without regard to individual risk; examples include violence prevention curricula delivered to all students in a school or children of a particular age and community-wide media campaigns.
- Selected interventions – approaches aimed at those considered at heightened risk for violence (having one or more risk factors for violence); an example of such an intervention is training in parenting provided to low- income, single parents.
- Indicated interventions – approaches aimed at those who have already demonstrated violent behavior, such as treatment for perpetrators of domestic violence.
Researchers in the field of violence prevention have increasingly turned to a definition of prevention that focuses on the target group of interest.