Violence in Context
Written by aery on mei 16, 2014
This chart shows the contexts for violence: the motives, the relationships between perpetrator and victim and the perpetrator’s mental condition. The exact opposite of domestic or intimate violence (A) is external violence: perpetrator are no intimates, but people who do not know one another or formal intimates (B). People who commit violence may have various motives. For some sorts of motives, such as self defense (D), they can count on the compassion and understanding of the community, but for other motives (selfishness) (E) they cannot. In this way, the chart reflects Donald Black’s theory of conflicts in which he distinguishes between moralistic and predatory motives. In this chart these motives are presented opposed to one another. In addition there is a third dimension: the mental condition of the perpetrator during the violence (C). In the text many examples are given from the sections between motives and victims/perpetrators.