The Relationship Between Stress and Violence

Defining violence is so difficult because of the existing complexities around the concept. According to Alvarez & Bachman (2019) , most people have failed to properly define violence or behaviors encompassing the same despite the familiarity of this concept. The variance in perceptions, from one person to another, has seen the concept defined differently. Similarly, how people perceive their actions or behaviors can lead them to either define violence correctly or incorrectly. For instance, people would assume they have not engaged in a violent act if their actions lead to the same. The perception of violence is also informed by people's historical beliefs, culture, and experience about behaviors that constitute violence or not. This difficulty in defining violence can be overcome by understanding the different perceptions about violence and its causes. It is possible to have a universal definition of violence and actions perceived to be violent if only people embrace different perceptions, cultures, and experiences. Lastly, individuals should look beyond these factors and agree that violence constitutes any action that brings physical, social, and emotional harm to another party. There is a causal relationship between stress and violence as prolonged stress sees an individual unable to cope with life events, including social problems such as violence. People with stress are likely to be angered easily as compared to those who are stress-free. This relationship is clearly defined in the overrepresentation of the minority communities. In the United States, minority communities, such as African Americans, register the highest crime and violence-related cases ( Alvarez & Bachman, 2019) . These communities are subjected to prolonged stressful lifestyle situations and social problems such as poverty and racial discrimination. As such, they easily succumb to violent activities, demonstrating the relationship between stress and violence. On the other hand, the cycle of violence theory dictates that violence is caused by experience and life events in a person's childhood stage. Therefore, a home with domestic violence is likely to channel out future generations of violent people as children developing would think it is normal to behave violently at home. The cycle of violence can be stopped by educating parents and guardians about their role in their children's current and future behavior. Similarly, the problem can be addressed by counseling, educating, or making the young people aware of the fact that they do not need to take their parents routes if they were 'violent'. These psychosocial measures will help in stopping the cycle of violence in society. As a single word, assault refers to a wide range of behaviors or actions that harm another party. There are various types of assaults, including simple and aggravated assaults. Simple assault involves actions that can lead to minor or no injuries to the victim. For the assault to be termed as simple assault, there ought to be no weapon used, and injuries sustained, if any, should take less than 48 hours of hospitalization ( Alvarez & Bachman, 2019) . On the other hand, aggravated assault entails all attacks that see the victim succumb to severe injuries that can even lead to death. Any attempt of attacking and a person with a weapon, regardless of whether minor or severe injuries are sustained or not, qualifies as aggravated assault. An individual needs to understand the concept of assaults, and types of the same, to protect oneself. It is also important as it would help a person avoid incurring legal fees for carrying out a simple assault without knowing. The first type of homicides is criminal homicide. This type of homicide is 'wide' as it entails different categories, from murder to manslaughter. In the murder category, first-degree murders are planned, and the perpetrator engages in the act knowingly ( Alvarez & Bachman, 2019) . Similarly, second-degree murder does not involve deliberation or planning, an individual ends up as an accomplice courtesy of knowing and 'covering-up' about murder. Another type of homicides is justifiable homicides, where killings are accepted as legal since the victim is killed in "defense of life or property" ( Alvarez & Bachman, 2019). On the other hand, Excusable homicide entails all unintentional killings. As such, the killings should not result from recklessness or negligence of human actions. Types of homicide are not easy to differentiate as they seem to be overlapping one another in certain elements. The difference in such incidences is 'thin' as demonstrated in the close association between Excusable homicide and some of the criminal homicide categories. I agree with Steven Egger's characteristics of serial murders as he captures every aspect of serial killing. The first trait indicates that there tends to be no relationship between the victim and the attack. Serial murders conduct this crime not because they know their victim or have a relationship, but rather because the attack perceives that he or she shares an 'experience' with the victim ( Alvarez & Bachman, 2019) . As such, murders would occur in a different geographic location, as stated in Egger's traits. Consequently, the murders are not material-motivated; rather, they seek power over the victim. Lastly, the victims are always vulnerable, and 'helpless' in most cases, and the murderer capitalizes on this trait. Boston Gun Project is an interagency program geared towards preventing violence in the city and its neighborhood. The project calls for the collaborative working of different society stakeholders, including the police, the bureau of drugs and ammunition, and the Harvard University research team, among others ( Alvarez & Bachman, 2019) . This project makes sense as community safety is a collective responsibility instead of government organs and institutions' individual responsibility. Additionally, the project depends on surveillance and intelligence, where participants inform each other in real-time, increasing the chances of preventing violence. The first risk factor associate with physical child abuse is IPV. Children in IPV homes are exposed to violent activities and are likely to experience child abuse. Those who end up being abused in their homes probably end up abusing their own children in the future. Just like stress, drugs, and substance abuse, and lack of emotional and social support, IPV increases the risk of a parent being physically abusive to a child ( Alvarez & Bachman, 2019) . In addition to the current legal measures, the government should increase the efficiency of implementing measures to curb physical child abuse. The parents and children should also be taught and reminded about the causes and consequences of physical child abuse. Despite being acknowledged in recent years, elder abuse remains one of the most dangerous forms of violence. This type of abuse involves harming or establishing a detrimental risk to harm to elderly and vulnerable people. For instance, the caregiver's failure to meet all of an elderly person's needs constitutes elderly abuse. One of the risk factors for this menace is a shared-living situation where elderly people stay together in a nursing home facility. In these facilities, the likelihood of conflict and tension, and therefore, abuse, is extremely high as compared to living alone situations. Dementia and financial dependency are the other risk factors of elderly abuse ( Alvarez & Bachman, 2019) . Elders who have dementia are likely to be abused as compared to their counterparts. Preventing elderly abuse would call for the continuous enactment of relevant laws and ensure proper enforcement. All parties, those who are associated with the elderly in one way or another, should be taught about elderly abuse and what the act entails. 

References 

Alvarez, A., & Bachman, R. D. (2019).  Violence: The enduring problem . SAGE Publications, Incorporated.