The Wild Growth of Violence

The Roots of Violence

● Four teenage boys went on a sixteen-day rampage. They beat several elderly men​—one to death—​horsewhipped two teenage girls, tied gasoline-soaked cotton around a man’s legs and set it on fire, dragged another man seven blocks and threw him into the river where he drowned. “It was a supreme adventure,” said one of the boys. “I did it for sheer enjoyment,” added another. All were from good homes, had good school records and had been counselors for younger children.

● Sixty-three-year-old Joseph, father of eight, could not sleep. He got up and went to his garage, grabbed two guns and marched across the street in his quiet neighborhood and opened fire on a neighbor’s pool-side swimming party. He killed two and critically wounded two others. He then fired a fatal bullet into his own temple. Police knew of no motive for the massacre.

● Marjorie was irritated when water from her electric dishwasher in her luxurious home flooded out onto her kitchen floor. She dashed for the mop. Just then her six-year-old son came whining into the room and, being ignored, emptied the trash basket into the growing puddle of water. Marjorie hit him across the face as hard as she could. He screamed in terror and pain. She then grabbed a leather belt and hit him across the backside again and again and again. She could not stop.

● For some time a bad feeling had been growing in the family of twenty-five-year-old Lee. He resented his mother and his sister. His mother ordered him out of the house, accusing him of stealing from her. A short time later the brewing aggression surfaced when Lee demanded money from his mother​—at gunpoint. “You won’t shoot your own mother,” she cried out. He fired and she fell to the floor dying. He then shot his sister twice, critically wounding her, and fled.

The accounts are endless. Violence, the product of uncontrolled aggression, rules in many streets and homes. These could have been your neighbors, relatives or friends. Wanton aggression knows no age, racial, economic, social or ethnic boundaries.

It is likely that violence may touch your life or someone you love, for there has been a dramatic increase worldwide in the number of violent crimes. In Great Britain, between 1970 and 1980, there was a 50-percent increase in murder. The Federal Republic of Germany, South Africa, Italy and Canada all report alarming increases of violent crime. “There’s absolutely no doubt that more and more of our young people are turning to violence,” said Toronto’s deputy Crown Attorney.

The violence that reaches police reports is only the tip of the iceberg. Hidden in the privacy of homes are countless aggressive acts. Research has shown that the person most likely to kill you is not a robber on the street but a friend, an acquaintance or a family member. A team of American sociologists found that “violence between brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, parents and children ‘occurs more often than between any other individuals or in any other setting except for wars and riots.’”

Certainly today’s situation is a fulfillment of the prophetic description given in the Bible two thousand years ago: “But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, . . . having no natural affection, . . . without self-control, fierce.”​—2 Timothy 3:1-4.

But what is it that makes persons so fierce or aggressive, often causing them to unleash ferocious rage on innocent victims? For instance, one young man got into a minor argument with his girl friend’s father. In a violent outburst he bludgeoned the man to death, raped and stabbed the girl friend’s younger sister, fatally stabbed her younger brother and knifed a two-year-old baby sleeping in its crib. Later, while in prison, the young man could not remember the actual murders. “I guess a whole lot of things I just kept inside of me,” he said, “jumped out all at once.” Then shaking his head in disbelief he added, ‘I sat there wondering, Is this me in here? Did I do all this?’

Was it possible for this young man to have controlled the aggression that built up inside of him? What were the roots of such aggression? Were previous circumstances in his life, including his parental care, responsible? Was it his environment? Was something physically wrong? Was it the product of his own faulty thinking? But even beyond all of this, What can you do to keep violence out of your home? The following articles will probe these questions.

There are a number of current theories as to what are the roots of aggression. To enable you to understand what some authorities feel are the causes and answers, an Awake! staff writer interviewed four researchers in this field. The following four pages are the results of those interviews containing their opinions as to the roots of violence.

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360% INCREASE IN VIOLENT CRIME IN 20 YEARS IN U.S.A.

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1960 1965 1970 1975 1980

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Numbers represent rate of murder, rape, assault, robbery per 100,000 population

Is It the Body?

The Roots of Violence

● In the interview Professor Kenneth E. Moyer of Carnegie-Mellon University, Pennsylvania (USA), stated that certain conditions in our body can stimulate systems in our brain that can create a strong tendency to fight.

Do you feel that a person can become violent for no apparent reason?

There is much debate over this. However, there have been many cases like the one where a man gradually became more hostile toward his family. He attempted to stab his wife and daughter and was taken to the hospital in a mad rage. A brain tumor was discovered and when this was removed his aggression ended. Not all brain tumors cause such behavior. Yet experiments have shown that direct electrical stimulation in certain parts of the brain has caused some patients to feel angry and behave violently.

What has your research revealed to be contributors to violence?

There is some evidence that an excess of male sex hormones, low blood sugar and allergies may make some more inclined to be hostile.

Are these automatic triggers?

No, for our behavior is a result of more than our internal feelings. Even with strong feelings of hostility, a person, because of his learning experiences or environment, may not become violent.

But are you saying it is harder for some to avoid becoming violent?

I believe it is, though not necessarily impossible. For instance, a man, out of concern for his violent tendencies, came to one of my colleagues. Tests revealed a brain disturbance and efforts to locate it were made with electrodes inserted in his brain. At one point he got up to leave, saying: “I’m going to kill my wife!” Upon the pleas of the doctor, this man agreed to have his brain electrically stimulated one more time. Now the doctor stimulated a center of the brain known to be a suppressor of violence. Immediately the man became friendly, and said: “I really appreciate what you did. I certainly would have killed my wife.”

Is controlling brain function and body chemistry the answer?

For certain individuals it probably is. However, I do not think that it is the answer. Really to get control you have to care for the environmental factors that create frustration, and you have to make sure that nothing is wrong in the body.

Are antiaggression drugs helpful?

Drugs that regulate the balance of certain hormones have helped. A number of drugs can be quite useful in getting some people through a certain period in life. When these drugs are carefully administered by a doctor they do not make the patient a zombie, but treat a specific problem in the brain.

Why do you say in the long run we must depend on learning to stop aggression?

The use of brain stimulation or drugs is very limited. They are useless when someone is violent yet has no personal animosity against the victim, such as a hired killer or wartime bomber pilot. But instruction is needed also to provide positive examples of nonviolent persons.

Is It the Diet?

The Roots of Violence

● An interview with chief probation officer Barbara Reed of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (USA), reveals that for over ten years she has been treating offenders of minor crimes, including domestic violence, by adjusting their diet.

How successful is your work?

We did a five-year statistical workup with about 1,000 cases that our department handled. After checking with four courts and our own, we found that 89 percent had not been back in trouble.

What is different about your approach?

In addition to regular counseling, we probe into an offender’s diet and exercise habits and make recommendations.

What do you usually find wrong?

Most do not eat breakfast. Usually they consume from 30 to 150 teaspoons of sugar a day through doughnuts, sweet rolls, candy, ice cream and soda pop. They average three to sixteen sixteen-ounce (.50 L) bottles of soda a day. They rarely eat vegetables. At times there are allergies to milk or certain foods.

How are diet and crime connected?

Criminal acts are not caused by one factor. But a constant diet containing refined sugar, caffeine or alcohol causes a stressful reaction in the body. The adrenal glands, which respond with a surge of adrenaline, in time become nearly exhausted. But when a person is committing a crime or is fighting, the adrenaline flows. I feel that some turn to criminal or hostile activity to get this surge of energy. Also, a bad diet can make one irritable and more prone to violence.

Can a violent person blame his diet?

We are responsible for keeping our minds clear. If a person knows that certain foods will cause problems and yet he still eats them, he is just as responsible as an alcoholic who takes a drink. He knows what will happen. Of course, most persons are ignorant of the problem.

Why do some on the same diet not become criminals?

We are all different. Some can drink alcohol for years and not become alcoholic. Some are more sensitive to sugar or caffeine. There may be inherited dependency. The parents or grandparents of 50 of 150 of our cases were diagnosed as diabetic or hypoglycemic.

Will a better diet lessen home violence?

Definitely. We have never had a case of domestic violence where a terrible diet was not a primary problem. Of course, this includes alcohol abuse, but there have been many cases where they consumed enormous amounts of “junk food.” One couple who regularly fought practically lived on coffee, soda pop and ice cream. I got them on a healthful diet of fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, whole-grain breads and cereals, six glasses of water daily and encouraged them to take walks together. Matters improved in two weeks. Good diet and exercise are excellent tools for handling stress.

To what extent is your approach used in the field of rehabilitation?

The vast majority do not know about it. However, those who try it know it works. At present there are similar programs in at least seven other states.

Is It Television?

The Roots of Violence

● Dr. Leonard Eron has observed the long-term effects of TV violence on children. This research professor of the social sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle stated in the interview that violent behavior is learned, and that TV plays a big role.

Why was your research study unique?

We studied the same youngsters over a twenty-one-year period to see what contributed toward some becoming highly aggressive. In 1960 we began with 875 eight-year-olds. Ten years later we reinterviewed 475 of them and their peers. We just finished a twenty-year follow-up with over 400.

What were your results?

We found that the greater a child’s preference for violent TV at age eight, the greater his hostility both then and ten years later. Our study has been duplicated in five countries. We have the results from Finland and Poland. They confirm our findings.

Do you feel that TV violence causes the aggression, or do violent children simply like to watch violence?

To our surprise, we found that eight-year-olds who were not aggressive but watched much violent TV were significantly more violent by age nineteen than were those youngsters who, when eight years old, were highly aggressive but saw little TV violence.

How does watching TV violence cause aggression?

It teaches a way of solving problems. It rehearses these solutions over and over. They see the main character of a program or cartoon use violent tactics successfully, and they may try the same.

Is TV violence the only cause?

No. A child’s rearing has a great effect. We found that when parents fought each other, rejected the child or used harsh punishment, the children became more aggressive. However, our study showed that a child who felt his parents cared about him when he was punished for aggression became less aggressive and the punishment worked. But caring parents are usually not harsh punishers.

Which has a greater influence​—violent TV or violent parents?

It is hard to say. But we found that in determining how violent an eight-year-old could become at age nineteen, his TV habits were a more accurate predictor than anything else, including parental disharmony and social status. In our recent three-year Chicago study we corrected the attitude of some children who watched much TV violence. They became less aggressive, though other aspects of their life were unchanged.

What do you believe parents can do about the problem?

They should control what their children watch. Also, explain to the children that what they see on TV is not reality, that you do not solve problems by beating someone up. Our small efforts to explain how unrealistic TV is had significant results. How much more so if parents would do the same.

Is It the Thinking?

The Roots of Violence

● “Crime is a product of the way a criminal thinks,” said Dr. Stanton Samenow, a clinical psychologist and consultant in Alexandria, Virginia, in the interview. He was part of a team that spent seventeen years probing the criminal mind through countless interviews and efforts to rehabilitate hardened, often violent, criminals.

Why do you feel that environment and upbringing are not critical?

Most poor people are not criminals. Many well-to-do are. Most minorities are not criminals, and many who are majorities are. Over half of the criminals we dealt with came from stable homes. Usually they had brothers or sisters or neighbors living under the same conditions who did not take a path of crime.

Are you saying that changing the environment is not enough?

Yes. Crime does not stop if you clear the slums. Crime resides in the minds of men, not in the slums. Changing the environment does not change the inner person. Even the Bible says, “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7, Authorized Version) A criminal’s pattern of thinking must be changed.

What did you find were the most consistent thinking errors?

Of course the criminal did not consider them as such. But in The Criminal Personality we listed fifty-two faulty thinking patterns. Among the most consistent were (1) The view that the world is theirs to take whatever they want, whenever they want it. (2) The ability to cut off fear. They are superoptimistic. Fear of injury, getting caught or even a nagging conscience is simply cut off for the moment. (3) No sense of teamwork. If nine criminals were on a baseball team, each would think he is the captain. (4) They think in extremes​—either they are Number One or Zero.

How do you change the thinking?

The individual has to want to change. You try to approach him when he is at a low. Perhaps he has been locked up or is about to lose his family. Instead of asking about his upbringing, making him feel as if he were a helpless victim of circumstances, we respectfully tell him how rotten his life is. We try to enhance his self-disgust.

What positive ideals do you teach?

The need of total commitment. Do not blame others. As one criminal who was making some progress said, ‘I used to think that if my parents had given me more love, I wouldn’t be a criminal, but now I wonder if being the kind of son I was made them that way.’ “I can’t” was replaced with “I must.” We taught empathy for others.

What prevents a return to crime?

We taught them to become their own critics​—to take stock continually of whether their thinking is morally right. This continual moral inventory is the most important deterrent.

How successful have your efforts been?

After developing and refining our procedures, we worked closely with thirty hard-core criminals between 1970 and 1976. Of these, thirteen changed completely and are law-abiding citizens.

Can Violence Be Rooted Out?

The Roots of Violence

THE origins of violence are complex. In addition to the factors in the foregoing interviews, many would add alcoholism, frustration, mental illness, heredity and even a chemical imbalance in the brain. However, the real challenge is not in identifying its roots, but in eliminating violence.

For instance, a newspaper editor whose native state has the highest violent crime death rate in that North American country said: “It’s in our blood. I, for example, am educated and certainly should know better.” Yet he admitted that he, too, if aroused, would kill.

So more than secular education is needed to root out violence. But why? Because, according to Jesus Christ, “out of the heart come wicked reasonings, murders.” (Matthew 15:19) For violence to be eliminated the heart must be changed. But what is powerful enough to do this?

The Power of the Word of God

The apostle Paul wrote: “The word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword . . . and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The message from God as contained in the Holy Scriptures is penetrating. Its power to reach the heart was especially evident during the first century. Despite a fierce environment, those who became Christians changed their personality, replacing fits of rage with tender affections.​—Colossians 3:7-11; Romans 1:29.

“We, then, alone are without crime,” boasted Tertullian, a professed Christian writer of the second century. He challenged the non-Christians to find on their long list of violent criminals the name of a single Christian!

However, it was not by merely learning the message from God; others who knew these things failed to benefit because they did not obey the message. So obedience from the heart, coupled with the help of God’s holy spirit, produced the changes. The accompanying box contains some of God’s practical counsel.​—Hebrews 4:6-11; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

Does It Work Today?

Having the “reputation as one of the best-behaved groups in the world,” is how the New Catholic Encyclopedia praised Jehovah’s Witnesses. Civil officials have likewise lauded the general absence of crime and violence among Witnesses, who are presently helping nearly one and a half million households to learn and apply the Bible. The following experiences show the results.

Al was in and out of penal institutions from the time he was thirteen. While in prison, with a thirty-year sentence for attempted murder, robbery, kidnapping and arson, he began to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses who came to the prison once a week. In time, he not only changed his personality but helped others in the prison to do so till his release in 1981. His full story, “From a Lion to a Lamb” is on page 25.

Another example is Bill, a tall, powerfully built man, who would fight at a moment’s notice. He lost more than one job because of his temper. He finally secured a job as a trolley conductor. However, after two violent encounters while on the job​—attacking a man with a piece of iron and spitting in the face of another who insulted him—​he was again fired. In time he began attending the meetings of the Witnesses. “I learned to appreciate fully Jehovah’s standards and I never wanted to violate them. If I had not found these standards, I would be dead by now. Learning the truth from the Bible helped me to stop and think before I would act,” said Bill, now a mild-tempered congregation overseer.

Stella’s profanity could be heard a block away. She cursed passersby, the mail carriers, her children, her husband​—even an armed sheriff. She almost killed her husband with a hatchet that narrowly missed. Anything would set her off. One day, some of the grease from a pan of frying chicken burned her. In a rage she hurled the whole pan out of the door, only to realize that this was all she had for supper! She had to clean off the pieces and finish frying them.

“I told the Witness who called that because of my temper I could never be a Christian,” confessed Stella. “Yet I was deeply impressed by the calmness of the lady who offered to help me study the Bible. I wanted so much to be like her.” After Stella learned that “fits of anger” were serious sins against God, she tried to control her temper.​—Galatians 5:19-21.

Even after becoming one of the Witnesses she had to work constantly at guarding her spirit. Her adulterous husband ran with other women. She explained: “Oh, how at times I wanted to kill him! But I would pray and beg for God to give me the strength not to become violent. He always answered my prayers. In time, relief came when my husband left us for good.” With God’s help she has managed to control her violent ways, even helping one of her daughters to overcome a hot temper and helping her to become a Christian disciple.

But what can you do when you are personally provoked? How can you keep your own home free of violence?

Keeping Violence out of Your Home

● Ask yourself: Why am I angry? Try to identify what has got you upset.

● Work on the source of the problem. Rather than blow off steam, turn down the fire. For instance, does your pride or selfishness make you quickly offended? Work to think less of yourself. Also, analyze your priorities in life. Is gaining material things more important than peace?

● Can you walk away from a quarrel? “Before the quarrel has burst forth, take your leave.” (Proverbs 17:14) By getting away at least temporarily, you can meditate on Bible principles and calm down.

● Teach your children that violence is displeasing to God. (Psalm 11:5) Carefully control what they watch on TV or at the movies. Do not fool yourself into thinking that TV does not influence your child’s behavior. Advertisers spend billions of dollars in the proved knowledge that TV is one of the most potent influences on human behavior yet devised. Discipline your children in love, not irritating them with senseless brutality. Let them know how much you care for them. Help them to see in your example the mild, kind way of solving problems.​—Ephesians 6:4.

However, some persons will resist any attempt to help them change​—no matter what. So, then, what is the full answer to rooting out today’s violence?

The Complete Answer

“When the wicked ones sprout as the vegetation and all the practicers of what is hurtful blossom forth, it is that they may be annihilated forever.” (Psalm 92:7) The Bible promises that God will soon destroy those who violently injure others. He will use his heavenly government, or kingdom, to clear our earth of violence. The Bible says of his King Jesus Christ: “He will deliver the poor one crying for help. . . . From oppression and from violence he will redeem their soul, and their blood will be precious in his eyes.”​—Psalm 72:12, 14.

And the results? “In his days the righteous one will sprout, and the abundance of peace until the moon is no more. And he will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”​—Psalm 72:7, 8.

What an inviting picture! Peace-loving subjects filling the earth. Would you not enjoy living under such conditions? The present violent conditions are evidence that we are deep into the “last days,” and that within our lifetime Jehovah God will bring this change. Yes, a world without violence is near at hand.​—2 Timothy 3:1-4; Matthew 24:3, 10-14, 34.

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What Is the Bible’s Advice?

● CONTROL YOUR SPIRIT​—‘He that is slow to anger and controlling his spirit is better than a mighty man.’​—Proverbs 16:32.

● THINK BEFORE YOU ACT​—‘The insight of a man slows down his anger and he passes over a transgression.’​—Proverbs 19:11.

● RESTRAIN YOUR WORDS​—‘Be agitated, but do not sin. Have your say in your heart and keep silent.’​—Psalm 4:4.

● BE CAREFUL HOW YOU TALK TO OTHERS—”An answer, when mild, turns away rage, but a word causing pain makes anger to come up.”​—Proverbs 15:1.

● AVOID VIOLENT ASSOCIATES​—‘Do not have companionship with anyone given to rage that you may not get familiar with his ways.’​—Proverbs 22:24, 25.

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For violence to be eliminated the heart must be reached and changed