FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE 1

Factors that influence an Individual to Commit Violence

Mary Beth Sholtis

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Abstract

This paper seeks answers as to why people commit violence. It will address five different points

that factor into why people commit violence. The first main point discussed is self-control and

how that plays a role in violence. Secondly, is environmental factors and the interesting ways in

which that contributes to why people commit violence. The third point is broken families,

especially fatherless homes. And finally the last two points have to do with mental illness and

different parts of the brain that contribute to moral sensitivity. All of these articles have different

approaches to violence but they all address the issue in their own way. Each researcher and

writer talks about violence in different ways and tries to convince the reader, that their point is

the main root of the problem. All of them together, can explain the many reasons why people

commit violence in today’s society.

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Factors that Influence an Individual to Commit Violence

What factors influence an individual to commit violence? This is a very hot topic issue in

the world today. The question is all over the news and media and everyone including politicians,

news anchors and others are trying to come up with solutions to this problem. We need to dig

deeper to the root of the problem and fix that rather than putting band aids on the issue. Imagine

dealing with a horrible pain somewhere on your body and instead of the doctor doing tests to

figure out the root of the pain, he just prescribes pain killers to temporarily relieve the pain. This

may help for the short term but eventually the pain will keep coming back. The same is true for

this situation. We must dive deeper and get to the root of the problem. We must find out why

these people are committing such heinous crimes. Only then will we truly be able to stop them.

Many Americans want to know the answer and want to fix the problem but don’t know how. It’s

time to find answers. The amount of shootings and other acts of violence are increasing at an

alarming rate. Why is there such an increasing loss for the dignity of human life which results in

the injury and loss of so much innocent life? It is best to put one’s own pre conceived

assumptions behind and focus on the facts and try not to let emotions or feelings get in the way

of what is true and factual. There are reasons behind everything and there are many different

reasons why people commit violence.

Self-control, or lack thereof, is a main contributor to violence. A majority of people

experience feelings of anger, frustration, and rage but they are able to channel these feelings into

nondestructive outlets (Greenemeier, 2011). It’s the people who cannot control these feelings

that result in committing acts of violence. For example, in 2011 Jared Lee Loughner killed six

people and wounded 22 others, including a US representative, Gabrielle Giffords. The gunman

showed signs of contempt of the government on social media outlets and rants on YouTube
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about the government. He was someone who could not control his anger and took it a step way

too far, in an attempt to assassinate a US representative (Greenemeier, 2011). Cognitive control

which is better known as self-control is what turns anger into action. It is of vital importance in

order to live a high functional life. The human brain is constantly influenced by outside sources

such has the people we hang around, the things we watch on the television and the different

interactions that we have. Self-control prevents one from acting on these potentially violent

influences. When someone cannot control these impulses, things get out of hand and violence

ensues.

Low cognitive control mechanisms and self-control can stem from people who have

lower IQ’s due to living in low class neighborhoods that have poor environmental factors. One

major environmental factor that contributes to this is lead contamination. In 1979 is was clearly

shown that lead contamination as well as methyl mercury contamination in young children, lead

to lower IQ’s and reduced cognitive function. Lower IQ’s and compounds that affect the brain,

can cause behavioral defects such as shortened attention span, hyperactivity, anti-social behavior,

etc. (Carpenter, Nevin, 2009). Lower IQ’s and lower cognitive control have been proven to be

causes of violence. Lower intelligence has been associated with many different risks. It was

shown that higher IQ’s was protective against the risk of serious criminal behavior among men

who were at a high risk of criminal acts (Carpenter, Nevin, 2009). White males who admitted to

being incarcerated at some point in their lives shows a much higher risk of violence among those

in the lowest 25% of the IQ distribution (IQ< 90). The lowest 5% of the IQ distribution is

especially likely to engage in more serious, violent offenses (Carpenter, Nevin, 2009). Obviously

not all children exposed to harmful environmental factors grow up to commit violence but it has

been proven to be a large contributor to those who do commit violence. One can conclude, that
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environmental contaminants such as lead contamination cause lower IQ’s and mental retardation

which both contribute to causes of violence. All these changes affect the brain in different ways

and in some cases can cause a person to have a lack of control and act out in violence.

These bad environmental factors tend to occur in low income areas, where typically

families are broken and single mothers are in the majority. Absent fathers, has been proven to be

a cause of young men committing acts of violence. Fathers provide stability to a family and

guidance to young children. Not having a father in the home can result in acting out and getting

involved in dangerous activities. Fatherless children are more likely to drop out of school and

join gangs. According to one study, the chances of a teenager to commit violence doubles when

he is raised without a father. On a more extreme matter, 72 percent of adolescents charged with

murder grew up without a dad (Sortino, 2012) (as cited in Characteristics of Adolescents

Charged with Homicide, 1987). This is especially true when the fatherless home is in a low

income neighborhood. “The empirical evidence shows that too many young men and women

from broken families tend to have a much weaker sense of connection with their neighborhood

and are prone to exploit its members to satisfy their unmet needs or desires. This contributes to a

loss of a sense of community and to the disintegration of neighborhoods into social chaos and

violent crime.” (Fagan, 1995). In addition to this having children outside of marriage puts the

woman and her children at a much higher risk of poverty and low education. It progressively

puts in place the conditions which foster rejection and, ultimately, crime (Fagan, 1995). Not only

fatherless homes but just the breakdown of the family in general is a major contributor to high

rates of violence among young men and even young women as well.

Fatherless homes and broken families is a major reason as to why young people act out

and there are also parts of the brain that could possibly trigger different reactions to crime. In
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order to figure out what happens in the brain when people commit acts violence including

murder, there was a study done to research these specific parts of the brain. Parts of the brain that

have to do with moral sensitivity are what scientists are focusing on. Psychologists at a

University in Australia scanned the brains of different people as they watched videos on a loop.

The videos were of a soldier killing an enemy soldier and another of a soldier shooting a civilian

(Kluger, 2015). During the video, they were in the position like they were the ones doing the

killing and they were then asked to rate on a scale how guilty they felt. Scientists discovered that

the orbitofrontal cortex in the forebrain has been known to be involved in moral sensitivity

(Kluger, 2015). As of now, this discovery is ground breaking and understanding this part of the

part a little better could help researchers understand if it plays a role in people who commit

violent crime.

Mental illness is something that could possibly influence this part of the brain. Mental

illness is a long known cause of violence. A survey was done, and 16 percent of state prison

inmates, 16 percent of local jail inmates, and seven percent of federal prisoners self-reported a

previous mental health diagnosis or overnight stay in a psychiatric facility (Rueve, Welton,

2008). Substance abuse, which is considered to be a mental disorder, has also been proven to

increase the risk of violent behavior. It was found that patients with alcohol or drug use had more

arrests over their lifetime than patients with schizophrenia or personality disorders (Rueve,

Welton, 2008). The significant rates of mental illness in the criminal population shows a very

strong correlation between the two.

Violence is very big issue in the world today. Too many innocent people are being hurt or

killed. Finding out the root of the problem is the only way to truly solve this issue. Discussing

many of those roots and the factors that contribute to violence will help in solving violence. As
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discussed there are many different reasons as to why people commit violence. Some are even out

of the person’s control, like environmental factors, mental illness, or broken families. The

common denominator here, is these people being born into a situation or being born with a

medical issue. It is important to learn the full story behind why someone has done something. In

this case it would be violence. Instead of doing everything in your power to reprimand them and

put a band aid on the issue, maybe it’s time to dig deeper and find the root of the problem so the

violence doesn’t happen again.

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References

Carpenter, O, Nevin, R (2009, August 18). Physiology and Behavior. Retrieved From

http://election.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/violence_lead_Nevin.pdf

Fagan, P (1995, March 17). The Real Root Causes of Violent Crime: The Breakdown of

Marriage, Family, and Community. Retrieved From https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-

justice/report/the-real-root-causes-violent-crime-the-breakdown-marriage-family-and

Greenemeier, L (2011, January 12). What causes someone to act on violent impulses and commit

Murder? Retrieved From https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/anger-management-

self-control/

Kluger, J (2015, April 10). Here’s what happens in the brain when people kill. Retrieved From

http://time.com/3816212/brain-murder-morality/

Rueve, M, Welton, R (2008, May). Violence and Mental Illness. Retrieved From

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686644/

Sortino, D (2012, June 4). Absentee Fathers and Juvenile Violence. Retrieved From

http://davidsortino.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10129/absentee-fathers-and-juvenile-

violence/
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Reflection

After going through the process of writing an inquiry paper I would define inquiry as a

question, you are trying to find the answer to. In my case it was a question of why people

commit violence. I definitely did my best to answer this question with points from many

different sources. I learned a lot from doing an inquiry paper and the process. I learned that it is

critical to do a lot of research and insure you have the best sources. It is important to make sure

your sources are credible and have relevant information. The most interesting thing that I learned

from the inquiry process is what you find may surprise you. After doing research I found some

answers to my questions that I would have never expected. For example I would have never

expected environmental factors to play such a big role in the causes of violence. This turned out

to be a big part of my paper. I think it is important to have an open mind when researching

because you never know what you are going find. The results and answers just may surprise you.

I struggled the most with taking what I read and forming it into a paper. All of the articles

I found had a lot of research and I probably struggled most with trying to figure out what I

wanted to include in my paper and how to include it. I was able to overcome this obstacle by

reading the articles and taking out key points that I thought were especially important or

interesting. I then used that information in my paper. It is important to add context and

background to your question because it could have many different connotations. Someone may

read your question and interpret it in a different way then you were intending. That is why I think

it is important to provide context so the reader knows exactly what you are talking about. I am

most proud of how I was able to find all five sources and connect them to each other in some

way. That is the first time I have ever really connected all my sources in a cohesive manner. My

inquiry question changed over the course of writing my paper. It started out with asking the
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question of why people commit murder but it shifted to violence. This was mainly because most

of the articles and sources I found focused on violence as a whole rather than just murder.

I think that our group worked really well together. We all contributed equally to group

assignments and peer reviews. I think I did a good job in helping my other group members with

their paper. During peer review I left in depth comments and suggestions to help them improve

their writing. In class I contributed to the conversation to help formulate a response to the

question asked or just contributing and helping my group members with questions they may have

had on their paper. The feedback that my peers gave me helped me in writing my paper. They

gave me some good suggestions that I took to heart and incorporated to my paper or made

revisions to my paper. Overall I think I managed my time pretty well for this project. The outline

that had specific due dates for each part of the project definitely helped me stay on track. I was

able to finish the paper with enough time to read it over a couple times and make revisions if

needed.