The Cycle of Violence

Abstract

We see the cycle of hatred at work at every level of violence.It is a factor in intergroup violence.It stokes bias crimes.Perpetrators of domestic violence and sexual abuse were often victims themselves, who experienced as children the dehumanization they inflict in turn.Crimes of hate have a past; sadly, they have a future, too, as each contributes to the climate of demonization and the desire for revenge.Perpetrators become victims, victims avengers.The cycle extends across generations.It can appear to be almost a force of nature.There is a seemingly implacable logic to anger and vengeance that is barely interrupted by revulsion at violent death, by attempts at forgiveness, or by sheer exhaustion."Nancy Rosenblum, "Introduction" to Memory, Law, and Repair 1 Cycles of violence are a reality in some situations and a threat in others.The "cycle of violence" (or of hatred, or vengeance) is also a powerful image invoked frequently in talking about the possible consequences of serious, especially violent, wrongdoing.It is a charged and frightening image but also an entirely familiar one that is a convention of popular entertainment from ancient tragedy to American Westerns, and to contemporary films like "In the Bedroom," and "Mystic River."It also emerges commonly as a looming threat in discussions of wrongdoing, resentment, vengeance, forgiveness, and reconciliation: wrongdoing begets resentment, rage, or hatred; feelings drive violent reprisal; reprisal in turn begets retaliation; and so on, driving the inexorable "cycle."Conciliatory approaches to wrongdoing look desirable by comparison to the horrible prospect of retaliatory violence cycling out of control.It is because this can indeed happen that the threat must be taken seriously.Many discussions of child abuse, domestic battery, and school or gang violence use the idea of a cycle of violence. 2My primary concern, however, is the recurrence of this idea in contexts of political violence, where the cycle in question is one of successive rounds of retaliation