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Rapes and muggings are everyday occurrences in many parts of the world. Even within their homes, many do not feel safe. Why is there all this violence? What is the solution? How should you react if threatened by a violent confrontation? This issue of Awake! will help to answer such questions.

Violence​—Why the Growing Concern

By Awake! correspondent in Britain

DO YOU live in a “no-go” area? This is a part of a city that public service employees​—doctors, nurses, and even policemen—​are fearful of entering alone. Officially, there are none in Britain, but ‘difficult area’ is a less emotional name for the same thing. And some authorities say there are over 70 of these in London alone, with many more in other cities of the country.

Britain’s Home Secretary expressed his concern, saying: “The peace of our society is now undermined not by foreign threats, but by the appetite for violence of too many of our fellow citizens.”

Not that Britain (with its 17-percent rise in violent crime during a recent 12-month period) is at the top of the list. Far from it. Many other places have higher crime rates. In the first nine months of last year, 10,607 violent crimes​—murder, rape, robbery, and assault—​were committed just on New York City subways! However, researcher Dr. Michael Pratt says there is evidence to support the claims that “the streets of London are becoming like New York.”

Yet, New York is not the worst city for crime. Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, and Chicago are among the eight major U.S. cities that reported more violent crimes per capita in 1987 than New York did. Everywhere, it seems, violence is a growing cause for concern. Psychiatrist Thomas Radecki observed that ‘most Western countries have seen increases in violence rates of from 200 to 500 percent over the past 20 years.’

Violent crimes have also increased elsewhere. In Kenya, East Africa, for example, 400 cattle rustlers not long ago indiscriminately slaughtered some 190 men, women, and children, callously leaving the bodies to be eaten by vultures and hyenas.

In the Soviet Union, soccer violence was reported ‘to be sweeping the nation.’ Similarly, China’s Central Committee for Promoting Socialist Ethics spoke out against ‘quarrels, fistfights, and even injuries and deaths during soccer matches.’ The committee lamented: ‘Sports enthusiasts, especially young ones, must be educated to be civilized.’

Clearly, violent crimes are a cause for growing concern. But what is being done to meet the challenge they present?

Violence​—Are We Meeting the Challenge?

MUCH of Britain’s crime is committed by school-age youths. One teacher in Sheffield, England, said that she had taught a class of 15 pupils in a school where only 3 did not have a criminal record. In fact, even kindergarten children are now involved in classroom violence.

“Nursery staff are seriously assaulted by their pupils, and you can imagine the terror in the hearts of the other children,” said one Yorkshire teacher. She added: “If a first-school child can inflict this sort of injury, what are they going to be like at secondary level if we don’t do something about it?”

But why are children so inclined to be violent?

The Role of TV and Movies

More children are watching violent and sadistic television programs and movies, and many authorities say that this is a factor in the increase of violence. In Australia, for example, a survey was taken of the viewing habits of about 1,500 children aged 10 and 11. The Australian film review board rated half of all the films the children had seen as unsuitable. Yet, a third of the children said that they especially enjoyed the violent scenes.

One explained: “I liked the part where the girl chopped off her dad’s head and ate it as a birthday cake.” Regarding another movie, a child said: “I liked it when the alien ate the lady’s head and kept on burping.” Still another child said: “I liked where they chopped a lady up and all white spurted out of her.”

The researchers concluded that as a result of watching this type of material, both children and adults are developing an appetite for violence. They also said that parents are being intimidated or seduced by strong social pressures channeled through their children to allow their children to watch such films.

Britain’s Independent Broadcasting Authority conducted a study of the effect of viewing programs featuring violence. Two million viewers, or 6 percent of the total audience, said that after watching crime programs, they sometimes felt “quite violent.” The Times of London, in its report of the findings, said that children fail to understand that screen violence is not real and have the impression that murder is a “day-to-day affair.” Is it any wonder that so many children are inured to violence and have few qualms about perpetrating it themselves?

Schools and Parents

Some have attributed much of the blame for the increase of violence to the failure of schools to teach moral values. Of this failure, a report prepared in Britain by two inner-city teachers says: “This is a tragic situation and one that goes a long way towards explaining the increasing violence in our society.” But is it fair to blame teachers for failing to instill moral values in children?

A report by the British National Association of Head Teachers answers: “Standards of behaviour in school and in society are deteriorating but the influence which schools can have on society via the young should not be over stressed.” Since a child’s disposition is already formed long before he or she gets to school, the report said: ‘There is little a teacher can do to change that.’

Roy Mudd, deputy head at City of Portsmouth Boys’ School, likewise stresses that teachers who see their pupils for only a few hours a day ‘can do nothing to put added moral fiber into the school diet unless children have been taught the difference between right and wrong by their parents.’

There is no question about it, the foundation for wholesome moral conduct must be laid early in life by parents. They, rather than the schools, must primarily be involved in teaching their children moral values if a reversal of the escalating violence is to occur. Yet, neither parents nor schools are meeting the challenge of violence, or at least not enough of them are.

What About Law Enforcement?

Are law-enforcement officials meeting the challenge? In Colombia, South America, 62 judges are reported to have been assassinated because they refused to accept payoffs from cocaine traffickers. Likewise, in Los Angeles county, U.S.A., law enforcement was unable to prevent 387 drug-gang killings in 1987. Law-enforcement authorities in many such places are acknowledging that particularly due to drugs, they are facing an unmanageable crisis. But why can’t they meet the challenge?

It is because of the breakdown in law and order worldwide. In Great Britain, Surrey’s chief constable, Brian Hayes, explains: “In years gone by police would tell a group to move on and they would. Nowadays the police would be set upon.” The Sunday Times of London notes that society often has “inverted values, where the police are cast as criminals and the law-breakers are seen as heroes.”

Richard Kinsey, a lecturer in criminology at the University of Edinburgh, says: “In Scotland we send more people to prison than in any other country in Europe and two and a half times as many as in the south [England].” With what result? In 1988 Glasgow’s Strathclyde police reported a 20-percent increase in crimes of violence over a 12-month period. Wryly, Kinsey concludes: “We in Scotland have seen [that] the key in the cell door has proved useless.”

An Unmet Challenge

Illustrating the failure to meet the challenge of violence was an editorial in Britain’s Nursing Times. It said: “No one warns nursing recruits that they are joining a dangerous profession​—perhaps they should.” The findings of the Health and Safety Commission, the editorial continues, are that nurses face “a level of violence and intimidation many times greater than the population as a whole.”

Among the most dangerous places for a nurse to work is in A&E (Accident and Emergency), as it is called in Britain. These can be particularly violent places on weekends when the usual hospital departments are closed. Awake! interviewed a former nurse who described work in a London A&E.

“The hospital was situated in a locality where there were many drug addicts, and we had a specific area of the casualty department set aside for them. There they could be left to sleep off the effects of their overdose, away from other patients. On occasion, as they came round, they would become very violent. It was a frightening experience.

“I have seen people admitted who have been badly injured in a gang fight and who continued their fighting in A&E. So often the violence can be turned without warning on the nursing staff. When I entered the nursing profession, a nurse’s uniform seemed to afford some kind of protection​—but not so today.”

Violence has put all of us on the defensive. Statements such as, “Now nobody is safe” and, “It seems that you are not safe anywhere,” are more and more common. Parents watch over their children, afraid to let them out of their sight. Women live in fear of being mugged and raped. Elderly folk barricade themselves inside their homes. From every angle, it is a sorry picture.

This brings us to a vital question, What can we do when faced with violence?

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Television violence can promote real-life violence

Violence​—You Can Protect Yourself

BRITAIN’S Home Office recently pioneered a new form of training for the prison service, called “control and restraint.” The training is broken down into three headings:

◼ Controlling and restraining an individual by teamwork

◼ Breakaway techniques for staff who are on their own

◼ Handling concerted aggression, such as riots

The course “is not intended as an aggressive form of unarmed combat,” explains a Home Office spokesman. “Every other option and means of controlling and defusing a situation should be tried first.” In other words: Avoid Confrontation! How valid is such thinking?

What About Self-Defense?

Although the martial arts are often advocated, their use in self-defense against criminals is not endorsed as an option for most people. The publication Violence​—A Guide for the Caring Professions explains:

“There has usually been little support for the teaching of complex self defence skills, not only because the main aim of training is seen as prevention but also because of their frequent impracticality. . . . Moreover such procedures may be limited in their applicability in settings like confined, cluttered spaces and will often involve the trainee in considerably more harm and injury during training than would be experienced in a professional lifetime of risk of attack.”

In Self Defence in Action, Robert Clark, national coach of the British Jiu Jitsu Association, goes further, saying: “Like all things learned for the first time, they [martial arts] will require a great amount of initial effort before their performance becomes second nature and can be performed without conscious thought. When you are attacked, you simply won’t have time to think about which move follows what.”

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a charity established in memory of a 25-year-old woman who mysteriously disappeared during the course of her secular work in London in 1986, likewise recommends self-defense only as a last resort.

If martial arts are not the answer to combat an unexpected act of violence, what is?

Coping With Muggers

The key to coping with muggers is to avoid making yourself vulnerable. As a police inspector in Leeds, England, noted: “Mugging is an opportunist business, that’s the thing to remember.” So if circumstances compel you to be in an unsafe area, stay alert. Don’t give muggers an opportunity. Act in keeping with the Bible principle: “A sensible man foresees danger, and hides from it; but the simple pass on, and are punished.”​—Proverbs 22:3, An American Translation.

Keep your eyes moving over the street ahead and occasionally look behind. Look ahead before entering a block​—anticipate danger. Try to avoid traveling alone after dark. If you are at a meeting place, wait to walk home with a friend. When driving your automobile, make sure that all doors are locked. If they are not, a criminal can easily enter when you stop at a signal.

But what if, despite your precautions, you suddenly find yourself face-to-face with someone who has a knife or a gun? Remember: Your life is your priority. No possession can exceed its value. So if your attacker wants money, give it to him. Some people living in dangerous areas carry ‘mugger money’​—a little money in a wallet or purse to satisfy a mugger.

Remember too: Act calmly. Speak firmly and with your normal voice. Look the person in the eye, and try to hold his gaze. Do not reply in kind to insults or threats. Apply the Bible counsel: “An answer, when mild, turns away rage.” “Be gentle toward all.” (Proverbs 15:1; 2 Timothy 2:24) Be ready to apologize even though there may not really be anything to apologize for.

Rape and Home Security

“Many rapists are surprised at how easy it is to rape a woman,” writes Ray Wyre in Women, Men and Rape. “Her terrified paralysis is interpreted as a lack of protest which commonly becomes an offender’s excuse for going ahead with the attack.” So, never acquiesce! Make it clear that you are not going to submit. You can use any means at your disposal to avoid intercourse. Even if you are not a strong fighter, you have a powerful weapon​—your voice.

Scream as loud as you can. That is in keeping with the advice of the Bible. (Deuteronomy 22:23-27) One teenager, dragged into a secluded park area, yelled hard and resisted. This so startled her attacker that he ran away. Screaming can unnerve your assailant and may thus give you a chance to escape, or it will alert others to come to your aid.a

In Britain, most cases of rape occur indoors, quite often in the home of the woman being attacked. An increasing number of these attacks occur during burglaries. It makes sense, therefore, to ensure that your home is as safe as possible. In this regard, what can you do?

You should secure all possible means of entry by using strong window latches and dead-bolt locks for the doors. Such a lock requires the use of your key to turn the bolt when you are leaving and a turn of the bolt when you are inside. In addition, it may be wise to obtain a door chain. But remember, such a device is only as strong as the doorframe and the bolts that secure the chain.

Another wise precaution is to check the credentials of all callers. Ask for their ID cards.

Violence is not decreasing. Indeed, statistics from around the world reveal that it is increasing. Doing what we can now to protect ourselves and our loved ones is prudent, but it does not entirely solve the problem. What really is the answer?

[Footnotes]

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What You Can Do

◼ Plan your journey, especially if at night, to avoid unlit roadways and deserted streets. Remember, too, that you can run faster in flat shoes than in high-heeled ones.

◼ Never accept a lift from a stranger. Do not be lured out of your vehicle on any pretext. Any repairs are best made by somebody you know and in a safe place, not by a stranger at the side of the road.

◼ Walk near the curb, well away from the buildings where a potential attacker may be lurking in a doorway or alley.

◼ If you see a group of suspicious-looking persons ahead, cross the street to avoid them, or change direction. If you are followed, step into the street. If danger seems imminent, run or call for help.

◼ Carry a screech alarm in your hand, not in your purse. Noise can often send a would-be attacker on his way.

◼ Avoid entering an elevator if you sense danger from the occupants. When in an elevator, stand next to the control panel. If a suspicious-looking person gets in, it may be wise to get out.

◼ Carry credit cards and other valuables in a separate place on your person. In this way, even if your purse is snatched, your loss will not be as great.

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Watch for “Steaming”

In Britain, “steaming” is a new word to describe the activity of teenagers who swarm en masse into a store, a bus, or a train, intimidating those they encounter. They rely on sheer weight of numbers to threaten and steal, sometimes with violence. So, wisely, do not wear jewelry or other valuables that can easily be seen and snatched. Carry a wallet or a purse containing a little money​—keeping important papers and credit cards elsewhere—​and be prepared to hand it over. If you readily give “steamers” something, they may leave you and quickly pass on.

[Picture on page 8]

Will you struggle to keep your money and perhaps lose your life?

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When attacked sexually, the best thing a woman can do is SCREAM

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Quality locks are vital for securing your home

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Check credentials before letting someone in

Violence​—The End in Sight!

HUMANS have had plenty of time to bring violence under control, but it has only grown worse. Is it not obvious that men cannot do it? What hope, then, is there for the end of violence?

Surely, it is to their Creator that humans need to look for the solution to the problem, as well as to all other problems. His answer is his Kingdom, which is a righteous heavenly government. Jesus Christ devoted his preaching work on earth to telling people about this Kingdom government. You pray for that government when you say: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”​—Matthew 6:9, 10, King James Version.

But how will God’s Kingdom eliminate violence? Foretelling the very days in which we live, the Bible says: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will . . . crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.” (Daniel 2:44) Yes, God’s Kingdom government will completely destroy earth’s present governments and the societies they govern, with all their violence and crime.

But when will this occur? The fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that it will be within our lifetime. Why do we say this? Because “the sign” that Jesus said would mark “the conclusion of the system of things” is now undergoing fulfillment. This “sign” includes “the increasing of lawlessness.” (Matthew 24:3-14, 34) What a marvelous relief when God wipes out this violence-ridden world! However, to enjoy the benefits then, we must do the will of God now.​—1 John 2:17.

A Bible prophecy recorded by the ancient prophet Isaiah tells about God’s invitation to submit to His instructions and “walk in his paths.” Those who respond, the prophecy says, “will have to beat their swords into plowshares” and will not “learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:3, 4) Another prophecy recorded by Isaiah tells of the result: “No more will violence be heard in your land, despoiling or breakdown within your boundaries.” Why? Because “Jehovah himself will become for you an indefinitely lasting light.”​—Isaiah 60:18-20.

Although a measure of peace can be enjoyed even now by learning the will of Jehovah God and submitting to it, just imagine what it will soon be like when God’s Kingdom rids the earth of all unrighteousness. Then there will be no cause for fear, no reason to be afraid to walk on any street or to enter any park at night. There will be no need for locks on your doors, no need to worry about protecting yourself.​—2 Peter 3:13.

Would you like to live in such a new world free of violence? This can be your happy prospect, for it is based on the sure Word of our Creator himself.