The Story of Violence in America

American history is characterized by its exceptional levels of violence. It was founded by colonial occupation and sustained by an economy of enslaved people who were emancipated by a Civil War with casualties rivaling any conflict of nineteenth-century Western Europe. Collective violence continued against African Americans following Reconstruction, and high levels of lethal violence emerged in American cities in the twentieth-century postwar period. What explains America's violent exceptionalism? How has structural violence against African Americans become ingrained in American culture and society? How has it been codified by law, or supported politically? Can we rectify and heal from our violent past?

National Culture and the Stream Analogy of Lethal Violence

This is the first study to explore the relationship between Inglehart and Baker’s national cultural measures and the stream analogy of lethal violence. Using data for 70 developed and developing countries, the regression analysis indicates that a country with self-expressionism or secularism is likely to have a high suicide rate relative to its homicide rate. In contrast, a country with a survivalism or traditionalism orientation is likely to have a high homicide rate relative to its suicide rate. This study suggests that national culture is related to the direction of lethal violence (i.e., suicide vs. homicide).

The impacts on the mental health of residents of 16 favelas observed during the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil

The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil has caused a scenario of extreme social vulnerability, with high unemployment rates and severe cuts to social benefits and policies. Aims: analyze the impacts of the pandemic on the mental health and quality of life on people living in contexts of high-levels of armed and lethal violence and social fragility. Methods: A longitudinal cohort study was undertaken with a convenient sample of fifty individuals who live in 16 favelas in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews included enquired about the respondent’s capacity to cope with the pandemic and their access to services as well as questions about mental health (Brief Symptoms Inventory), and Quality of Life (Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life). Results: The results revealed a decrease in the somatization dimension of the BSI scale and a worsening on the objective index (SIX) of quality of life. Mental health distress increased more in the male group when compared to the female group during the COVID-19 pandemic. It seems likely; therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic presents a major challenge for people living in a context of urban violence and social deprivation. Conclusions: The worsening of mental distress and quality of life during the pandemic impacts both genders and suggests the need for policies directed to health and employment protection.

Haunting Bodies

The goal of this study is to describe and assess evidence of trauma in the osteological remains of three individuals that were fortuitously found in southernmost Fuego-Patagonia (52°–56°S). The cases correspond to individuals AH4354 (Laguna Verde), 29751 (Posesión Olympia-2), and 96074 (Caleta Lennox) located in continental Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and the Fuegian Archipelago, respectively. Age and sex estimations were conducted based on established anthroposcopic methods. Taphonomic changes and traumatic lesions were examined and characterized. Antemortem trauma was identified in the postcranium of AH4354 and the cranium of 96074. All individuals show perimortem traumatic lesions in the skull. In AH4354 the cranial lesion was likely caused by a bola. In 29751 and 96074 the cranial wounds were caused by sharp weapons (spears or sharpened sticks). In all three individuals, the perimortem cranial lesions were likely lethal given their severity and the absence of healing. But, while AH4354 was injured at a distance, individuals 29751 and 96074 were wounded at proximity. Although the lesions in 29751 and 96074 could be interpreted in various ways, their location and characteristics lead us to interpret them as resulting from intentional and performative executions that carried specific cultural meanings. All individuals were interred in the same manner as others, suggesting that they were either members of the group, or that notions of equality and social legitimacy prevailed among those who interred them. This study offers an interpretation of the role of lethal violence among hunter-gatherers in extreme environments. Este estudio describe y evalúa los traumas presentes en los esqueletos de tres individuos de la zona sur de Fuego-Patagonia (52-56⁰S). Los casos corresponden a los individuos AH4354 (Laguna Verde), 29751 (Posesión Olympia-2) y 96074 (Caleta Lennox), quienes fueron hallados en Patagonia continental, Tierra del Fuego, y los archipiélagos Fueguinos respectivamente. El sexo y la edad fueron estimados con métodos antroposcópicos estándar. Se examinaron y caracterizaron los cambios tafonómicos y las lesiones traumáticas. Se identificaron lesiones traumáticas antemortem en el postcráneo del individuo AH4354 y el cráneo del individuo 96074. Todos ellos presentan lesiones traumáticas perimortem en el cráneo. En AH4354 la lesión craneana perimortem fue posiblemente causada por una bola. En los individuos 29751 y 96074 las heridas craneanas fueron producidas por objetos afilados (e.g, lanzas). En todos ellos, las lesiones perimortem craneanas fueron posiblemente letales dada su severidad. Pero, mientras AH4354 resultó herido a distancia, los individuos 29751 y 96074 fueron lesionados por alguien que se encontraba cerca. Las lesiones de los individuos 29751 y 96074 pueden ser interpretadas de varias maneras, pero su ubicación y características sugieren que estas resultaron de ejecucionesperformativas imbuidas de significados culturales específicos. Los enterratorios de estos tres individuos se adhieren al mismo patrón que se observa en otros de la misma región. Esto sugiere que conceptos de igualdad y legitimidad social primaron en aquellos que los enterraron. Este estudio ofrece una interpretación sobre el rol de la violencia letal en cazadores-recolectores de ambientes extremos.

Lethal Violence in Brazil: A Systematic Review of Portuguese-Language Literature From 2000 to 2020

Reviewing national literature on homicides in Brazil, this article explores questions that relate to the nature, trends, determinants, and impact of these crimes on society, as well as interventions to combat this type of violence. The article contributes to the international literature by reviewing and critically discussing a sample of 112 theses on homicides from the Portuguese-language literature using the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations from 2000 to 2020. Highlighting an issue that primarily affects young, poor Black men, the article helps advocate for a better understanding of other types of lethal violence that affect women, LGBQTI and other minorities. The article calls for a better understanding of the role of the state, the police and other criminal justice actors as generators and/or controllers of violence, as well as the need for other perspectives on homicide prevention, which include the microsituational aspects of killing, organized crime, and interaction between the individual and the environment.

Growth of Lethal Violence in Brazil 2000–2017: A Space-Temporal Analysis of Homicides

This study investigates the space-temporal growth of homicide rates in Brazil from 2000 to 2017 and identifies determinants of the country’s growth of homicide rates. Data from the Brazilian Information System on Mortality and Censuses are used to estimate growth models combined with spatial statistics and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Findings show evidence of change in the geographical distribution of lethal violence over time, characterized by a steady increase in the North and Northeast regions and a reduction in growth in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil. Social disorganization factors namely deprivation, ethnic heterogeneity, and urbanization are significant positive determinants of the growth of homicide rates. The results show a reduction of the predictive strength of income inequality and an increase in that of unemployment from the year 2010 to 2017. The theoretical and policy implications of these results are discussed.

Penal Culture in Ireland

Ireland enjoys a level of imprisonment around half that of England and Wales and one-eighth that of the USA. However, this is not the result of structured policy choices. Several factors generally associated with penal severity are evident in that crime is (episodically) salient and lethal violence has risen, there is low trust in government, little evidence of deference to experts, and the principles of justice are seldom articulated. Countervailing forces are that the system remains highly discretionary, punishments are individualized, and key criminal justice personnel are unelected and thereby insulated from public sentiment. To add depth to this analysis of penal culture requires the addition of local factors, including a history of coercive confinement, the lack of an infrastructure for following through on political commitments, profound inertia, imitation (in legislative and policy terms), migration patterns, attitudes to state expenditure, and a clientelist political system.

Toxic language in online incel communities

The internet-based incel subculture has evolved over the past decade on a number of different platforms. The subculture is known to be toxic and has become associated with several high-profile cases of lethal violence. In this paper, we study the level of toxic language and its targets on three large incel forums: incels.co, lookism.net and looksmax.me. These three forums are the most well-known and active online platforms where incels meet and discuss. Our results show that even though usage of toxic language is pervasive on all three forums, they exhibit significant differences in the composition of their toxicity. These differences correspond to different groups or philosophies within the incel communites.

Lethal coalitionary attacks of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) on gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in the wild

Intraspecies violence, including lethal interactions, is a relatively common phenomenon in mammals. Contrarily, interspecies violence has mainly been investigated in the context of predation and received most research attention in carnivores. Here, we provide the first information of two lethal coalitionary attacks of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) on another hominid species, western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), that occur sympatrically in the Loango National Park in Gabon. In both events, the chimpanzees significantly outnumbered the gorillas and victims were infant gorillas. We discuss these observations in light of the two most widely accepted theoretical explanations for interspecific lethal violence, predation and competition, and combinations of the two-intraguild predation and interspecific killing. Given these events meet conditions proposed to trigger coalitional killing of neighbours in chimpanzees, we also discuss them in light of chimpanzees’ intraspecific interactions and territorial nature. Our findings may spur further research into the complexity of interspecies interactions. In addition, they may aid in combining field data from extant models with the Pliocene hominid fossil record to better understand behavioural adaptations and interspecific killing in the hominin lineage.