2008 Woodie Awards
Violence rising, East Bay takes lead
A Federal Bureau of Investigative report states violent crime in Hayward increased 24.3 percent
Melville, Justin
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: News
Why do most criminals commit such violent crimes if they know prison is right around the corner? Gilligan says, "Violence toward others, such as homicide, is an attempt to replace shame with pride." (41) A lot of perpetrators would rather kill someone and risk the consequences just to prove they're not a "punk" or a "bitch".
The justice system believes giving criminals the most severe punishment will decrease their chances of committing another violent act. But Gilligan says, "The more harshly we punish criminals, or children, the more violent they become; the punishment increases their feelings of shame and simultaneously decreases their capacities for feelings of love for others and guilt toward others." (113)
Prison only increases violence. Where else except in prison do you get three meals a day, a warm bed, and someone watching over you every night? A lot of men force themselves into prison or jail for these three needs.
So a lot of people don't even feel threatened by the idea of prison. So one thing we should consider changing in the bay is the way we punish our criminals. If you keep a dog in a cage long enough, one day that dog will get out and tear up the first thing it sees.
Gilligan concludes his book with a series of suggestions to decrease the amounts of violence.
Suggestion number 1: Reduce the amounts of alcohol in our society. "Alcohol use has repeatedly been found to be correlated with violent behavior; for example, more than 50 percent of the perpetrators or victims of murder and other serious violence have alcohol in their bloodstreams." (219)
By lowering the amount of alcohol in our society we may lower the chances of violent acts.
Suggestion number 2: Make the sexes equal. "We have a horror of dependency in this country-particularly on the part of men." (237) Women need to become just as important as men. This country needs more equality in the sexes.
Suggestion number 3: Get the poor off the streets. Rid the country of poverty. "Relative poverty-poverty for some groups coexisting with wealth for others-is much more effective in stimulating shame, and hence violence, than is a level of poverty that is higher in absolute terms but is universally shared." (239)
These statistics are starting to become more of a reality and are hitting the community at rapid speeds.
"I'm sick of all of this violence," says CC mechanical engineering major, Alex Absher. " Why won't they grow up instead of trying to fight and kill? It needs to end."
The justice system believes giving criminals the most severe punishment will decrease their chances of committing another violent act. But Gilligan says, "The more harshly we punish criminals, or children, the more violent they become; the punishment increases their feelings of shame and simultaneously decreases their capacities for feelings of love for others and guilt toward others." (113)
Prison only increases violence. Where else except in prison do you get three meals a day, a warm bed, and someone watching over you every night? A lot of men force themselves into prison or jail for these three needs.
So a lot of people don't even feel threatened by the idea of prison. So one thing we should consider changing in the bay is the way we punish our criminals. If you keep a dog in a cage long enough, one day that dog will get out and tear up the first thing it sees.
Gilligan concludes his book with a series of suggestions to decrease the amounts of violence.
Suggestion number 1: Reduce the amounts of alcohol in our society. "Alcohol use has repeatedly been found to be correlated with violent behavior; for example, more than 50 percent of the perpetrators or victims of murder and other serious violence have alcohol in their bloodstreams." (219)
By lowering the amount of alcohol in our society we may lower the chances of violent acts.
Suggestion number 2: Make the sexes equal. "We have a horror of dependency in this country-particularly on the part of men." (237) Women need to become just as important as men. This country needs more equality in the sexes.
Suggestion number 3: Get the poor off the streets. Rid the country of poverty. "Relative poverty-poverty for some groups coexisting with wealth for others-is much more effective in stimulating shame, and hence violence, than is a level of poverty that is higher in absolute terms but is universally shared." (239)
These statistics are starting to become more of a reality and are hitting the community at rapid speeds.
"I'm sick of all of this violence," says CC mechanical engineering major, Alex Absher. " Why won't they grow up instead of trying to fight and kill? It needs to end."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Sarah Carr
posted 2/04/07 @ 4:29 AM EST
I am so glad that someone wrote an article about this book, and gave suggestions on how to decrease violence. I read this book over two years ago in Sean McFarland's English 1A class, and I got a lot out of it. (Continued…)
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