M.A. / A sample population of nine men arrested in Johannesburg, for killing their female partners (former spouse or girlfriend) is analyzed in the context of their killings. The analysis approaches homicide as a Public Health problem and a preventable phenomenon. The analysis proceeds from Public Health and Bulhanian theoretical perspectives. These theories emphasize the relationship and interplay between the social, political, psychological and economic environments and the overall effect they have on individual processes. By contextualising the homicide event into pre-event, event and post-event categories, the study is able to identify risk factors which played a role in the homicide act. The tool of analysis employed in the service of this study is called the Haddon Matrix and is widely used in the Public Health domain as a means of identifying and considering, section by section, the risk factors associated with the injury, the relevant research and other knowledge available and what is needed for the future and the priorities for countermeasures. Analysis includes demographic and social characteristics of the perpetrator and the incident. The results indicate problems in education, communication and the concept of the nuclear family. In the Public Health-Bulhanian sense, the results indicate that the homicide incident originates and occurs within the context of the prevailing conditions of social structural constraint, in the experienced psychological strain of individuals and in the prevailing threshold of social tolerance. The lack of basic human needs, such as professional help, for example, is an indication of the impact that the cumulative effect of social structural constraint has on the family's health. The study also found that individuals experience trauma and pain in a context where objective social conditions affect the rights and privileges of individuals and there is a strain being created on the subjective world of perception, feeling and meaning. It is this wealth of information on the trauma points which presents opportunities for prevention. Among the proposed areas for interventions are: Change individual knowledge, skills or attitudes, such as conflict resolution education, for example. Change social environments, such as better housing, economic incentives for family stability and counselling centres. Change physical environments and agents of violence, such as the availability of dangerous weapons and the increased policing of high risk areas, for example. In conclusion, the study aspires to enrich existing debate in the area of homicide as a Public Health issue.

M.A. / Violence exacts an enormous social cost which is concerned with the loss of self-respect in both the perpetrators, the victims as well as the family and the broader social community. The purpose of this study was to describe the link between environmental violence and family well-being so as to develop effective intervention strategies for social work practice and community development. This study was conducted within Zola Primary Health Care Clinic in Soweto. A questionnaire was used as a method of gathering data that was required. The researcher used an exploratory descriptive design. It was found in this study that environmental violence has an impact on family well-being. The results of the study indicated that there is a significant difference between the type of environmental violence that was experienced by the victim e.g. rape/sexual abuse especially whereby the perpetrator is a family member or relative. The results showed that family well-being was affected in a way that victims felt less power, less goal-inclined, less safe within their own families as well as within their own communities. The family well-being is also affected by several factors such as housing, marital status, age, education. For an example the results showed that victims of violence with a higher level of education felt more power, more goal-inclined and safer within their families and within their own communities. Recommendations for social work practice and community development were drawn whereby the importance of knowing and understanding the needs of the victims were highlighted – before effective intervention can take place. / Dr. E. Oliphant

Submitted in accordance with the partial requirements for the degree of Masters in Community Based Counselling Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Witwatersrand, 2017 / Although research on violence has gained momentum over the last 3 decades, very little work on situational factors involved in violent enactments has been undertaken in South Africa. As a means to address this limitation, the aim of this project was to better understand the phenomenology of violence. Embedded in a psychosocial approach, the study subjected data collected through three staggered semi-structured interviews with nineteen incarcerated perpetrators of violent crime to a twostage secondary data analysis using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The first phase, aimed to provide a broad general phenomenological reading of these fifty-seven interviews. Thereafter, a more strategic and theory driven analysis was performed, building on the broader reports of the phenomenology of violence and the perceived situational factors. The evidence suggests that neoliberal policies and ideology may have a significant role in production of violent crime in the South African context, informing not only the behavioural repertoire of its constituency, but, also coming to shape the way in which perpetrators make meaning of their lifeworld and perpetration of violent crime. The analysis also found that impairments in mentalization appeared to play a role as a situational determinant in violent enactments, and interestingly it appeared to be influenced by a number of other relevant situational factors (e.g. the presence and use of illicit substances, peer and social presence and pressure, indicators of a possible threat to their wellbeing, the presence of gangsters, the presence of indicators of conspicuous consumption, as well as, indicators of the presence of moral disengagement). As such, this study provides strong support for further research aimed at understanding the ways in which violence comes to be produced by the structural processes of neoliberalism, it’s influence on the subjectivity of individuals in neoliberalized contexts, and its arguably corrosive effect on marginalized communities by way of its divestment, as well as, its arguably negative sociocultural impact. The project’s overall contribution to psychosocial approaches to violence lies in its demonstration of the value of bridging theories that span work on moral disengagement, conspicuous consumption, neoliberalism, mentalization theory, phenomenology, and violence. / XL2018

Thesis (M.W.S.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: p. 232-245.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : [97]-99).

The Interactive and Discursive View of Violence and Resistance proposes the existence of four-discursive-operations that “(i) conceal violence, (ii) mitigate perpetrators’ responsibility, (iii) conceal victims’ resistance, and (iv) blame or pathologize victims” (Coates & Wade, 2004, p.500). These linguistic operations produce incorrect representations of violence that ignore the unilateral nature of acts of violence and, instead focus on pathologizing victims (Coates & Wade, 2004). Examining how violence, victims, perpetrators, and responsibility for the violence are represented in therapy transcripts in which the presenting issue is violence, will allow us to see if linguistic strategies that are used to discredit victims in everyday talk are also used in therapy by therapists. Analysis of 19 therapy transcripts found that the four-discursive-operations were used in each of the transcripts and that therapists often initiated the use of these inaccurate representations or encouraged the perpetrator’s use of four-discursive-operations. / xii, 228 leaves ; 29 cm.

This work provides a statistical analysis and interpretation of homicide rates and patterns in South Africa for the years 1948 to 2003. Complied from data accessed from the South African Police Services, Mortuary Reports, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Non Government Organisations the patterns of homicide according to race, gender and age are analysed. This thesis proposes that the anomic condition of South African society is a key contributor to the creation and maintenance of the high levels of homicide found in this society. The normalisation of inter-personal violence through the collective conscious of communities and individuals has resulted in the growth of homicide and its continued high levels ten years after the end of Apartheid. This hypothesis is further supported through a survey conducted upon teenage subjects in Kwa-Zulu Natal province of their attitudes towards the use of violence. This work demonstrated strong positive support for interpersonal violence by members of the police and state. The survey also showed significant racial and gender differences in attitudes. The anomic conditions that continue to be present in South Africa will contribute to the weakness of the criminal justice system, and the willingness of individuals and communities to use their own resources to combat crime rather than rely upon the state and its agents for protection. The result being a continued high level of violence and a weak criminal justice system. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

Research shows that women are at higher risk for being victimized simply because of their gender. Women with mental illness living independently are especially vulnerable, since they underreport victimization and underutilize available resources. This study evaluated the benefits of educating women with mental illness about safety and violence. Twenty women utilizing outpatient services at two community mental health centers participated in one of two 12-week groups: 15 received an educational curriculum and 5 a control condition. Outcomes were assessed using pretest and posttest measures of quality of daily life, self-esteem and perceived control over life events, awareness of available resources to them as women, awareness of violence, attitudes about safety, and confidence in abilities to protect themselves. The greatest improvement was in the curriculum women's awareness of resources. Intra-group variability, a small sample size, and other unexpected complications precluded a definitive evaluation of the curriculum, but overall results suggest further research in this area would be beneficial. / Department of Psychological Science

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 17, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-27).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.