In the introductory part of the documentary titled “Why They Kill,” Lonnie Athens shares his theory on why violent situations occur. Through the analysis of the criminals’ recollection of their crimes, Athens managed to develop a theory to explain why people commit murder. By analyzing the beginning of the criminals’ developmental process, Athens notices that most of these individuals were previously benign human beings who did not have hearts for killing. A phantom community contributes greatly to the development of a violent criminal. Athens argues that violent actors tend to follow a series of steps when they interpret situations in which they become violent. Before a person turns to violence, he or she first engages in a dialog with himself or herself that entails consulting the significant features out of his or her past and the attitude he or she has adopted, which then guides his reaction to a given attitude. Violent actors, like any other person, interpret situations using a series of steps. However, the interpretive process of a violent actor leads to violence since his or her phantom community, which is building upon past and present social experience, is violent.
The first step towards becoming a violent person is brutalization, which involves undergoing rough encounters at other individuals’ hands. These social experiences influence how people will respond to future altercations. There are three primary elemental experiences in this stage, including violent subjugation, personal horrification, and violent coaching. In all instances, it involves undergoing a coarse and cruel treatment as a result of other people’s actions, which results in a lasting impact. The brutal acts towards a person tend to trigger then to look for potential solutions that can help stop people from brutalizing them. In addition, a person starts to find ways to implements violent coaching he or she has received. Violence as a solution to the brutal experiences becomes a striking revelation, which makes these people ready for the next stage of the violentization process.
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The explanation by Athens on why people commit murder is supported by social structure, social process, and social development theories. As outlined earlier, people resort to violence since they are being guided by a violent phantom community. However, the phantom community is a product of previous social experiences. The social disorganization theory aids in pinpointing the factors that can contribute to the development of a violent phantom community. The social disorganization theory suggests that rapid growth and change leads to the deterioration of community control and the replacement of conventional values with criminal value (Hartinger-Saunders et al., 2011). Brutalization, which is the first stage of the violentization process, is facilitated by the lack of control in the community. The lack of control promotes the development of a breeding group for bullying and domestic violence, which exposes people to brutal experiences that impact their lives. Besides, the lack of family support and religious support, due to the disorganized communities, tend to promote violence. On the other hand, the social learning theory, one of the many social process theories, can explain the creation of a phantom community. A phantom community, which is created out of previous social experiences and inherited attitudes, is a result of social interactions with people and the environment that these violent actors tend to learn from (Hartinger-Saunders et al., 2011; Nabavi, 2012). The social learning theory emphasizes on the development of criminal behavior, or deviance, as a result of the interaction between individuals and their environment. Violent actors, in most instances, must have suffered some form of violent subjugation, personal horrification, or violent coaching at one point in their lives, which triggers the violentization process. Finally, according to the social development model, the causes of delinquency are mostly the outcome of the personal journal along with overlapping pro- and antisocial path (Cambron et al., 2019). Based on the theory, family, school, peers, and others contributes to the development of bad or good behavior, particularly among juveniles. The social disorganization theory, the social learning theory, and the social development model combine to explain how an environment that contributes to the development of violence and the interaction in that environment leads to the development of a violent phantom community, which is the core reason why people kill.
The disorganization of a community, as presented by the social disorganization theory, contributes facilitates the exposure to brutal events that trigger the brutalization process. In addition to the disorganization in communities, the social learning theory can also explain the onset of brutalization among previously benign individuals. People can learn or experience violence through their experiences with other persons in the community. Furthermore, the interaction with family members, such as violent parents and peers who praise violence, facilitates the brutalization process.
Based on the three theories, the social structure, social process, and social development contribute to the development of delinquency and criminal behavior. The existence of a violent environment among people during their developmental process can results in the transformation of a previously non-violent individual into violent actors (Nabavi, 2012). In the social disorganization theory, the primary social issue is the rapid growth and change, which contributes to ineffective social control structures, which promotes the existence of violent activities in the form of abusive fathers and bullies, who are the primary source of experiences that trigger the brutalization stage of violentization process (Hartinger-Saunders et al., 2011). On the other hand, the social learning theory explores the potential of non-violent individuals to learn about violence from other individuals or the violent environment created. Therefore, as presented in the video, the existence of violent actors in the community facilitates the development of a system that transforms previously benign human beings with empathy and sympathy to violent persons. Also, according to the video, violent behavior can be developed as a result of influence from family members and peers. According to the social development model, people learn a lot from their family, schools, and the community at large during their developmental process (Cambron et al., 2019). Therefore, if violence exists in any of the social learning structures, one can easily be transformed into a violent person, especially if there is a close interaction between them.
Sociological theories have a vital role in explaining crime causation, which can help guide policy implementation. The sociological theories tend to explain the social structure and how interactions within the structure can affect an individual’s developmental process. Through these theories, it is easier to understand how the development of criminal behavior and delinquency occurs within a community (Hartinger-Saunders et al., 2011; Cambron et al., 2019; Nabavi, 2012). That way, one can develop policies that can help reverse the violentization process. Understanding these sociological theories can help in the process of developing rehabilitation and intervention programs to avert the violentization process. An effective analysis of a community’s social structure ensures that the setup programs and policies have targeted the potential points of weakness that can promote violence. The conceptualization of the social development model can help promote the effective incorporation of various stakeholders in the intervention process. By understanding how families, schools, and the rest of the community impact on a person’s development, the policy implementation process can be achieved more effectively. In sum, the analysis of society through the social structure, social process, and social development theories ensures an effective understanding of crime causation and the potential measures that can be adopted to avert these social issues
References
Cambron, C., Catalano, R. F., & Hawkins, J. D. (2019). The social development model. The Oxford handbook of developmental and life-course criminology , 224-247.
Hartinger-Saunders, R. M., & Rine, C. M. (2011). The intersection of social process and social structure theories to address juvenile crime: Toward a collaborative intervention model. Journal of human behavior in the social environment , 21 (8), 909-925.
Nabavi, R. T. (2012). Bandura’s social learning theory & social cognitive learning theory. Theory of Developmental Psychology , 1-24.
