Research on Assault
Assault is one of the deviant behaviours that are on the rise. An assault is described as an unlawful attack on another person. There are two types of attacks; aggravated and simple assault. Aggravated assault involves the use of a weapon during an attack whereby the attack may or may not have been injured by the weapon (Humphrey & Schmalleger, 2019). In simple assault, someone is attacked without the use of a weapon resulting in no or occurrence of a minor injury. Averagely, there are eight hundred thousand aggravated assaults annually in America, whereby simple assaults are double this number. Despite the government taking stringent measures to curb the rise of this deviant behaviour, some people still indulge in assaulting others.
On 20th June 2020, Derek, a 75-year-old adult, fell victim to an assault attack. While walking alongside River Leen, he was attacked five times by an unknown middle-aged person to him. As per Derek, the attacker was furious since he did not excuse him to pass with his electric scooter. Since the river was shallow, Derek could not move any further as it would only make him fall in the river. There were two witnesses to the assault attack as per Derek, who did not have phones to capture the deviant behaviour in action. However, the two witnesses of unknown demographics did nothing to help stop the attack, and Derek sustained severe facial bruises from the attack. Derek thus reported to the police who are following up to trace the unknown attacker. According to the social strain typology theory, people indulge in deviance to gain their values and attain their goals. This explains why Derek’s attacker assaulted him.
The second incidence of assault is the physical assault of news reporters filming protests against the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. One of the reporters states that a policeman fired a rubber bullet directly beneath his throat, resulting in bruises that will keep him off work. The incident was witnessed by a lot of people and reported to the committees protecting journalists. This is just one among many other journalists who have undergone assault in the hands of policemen despite complying with the set guidelines. As per the labelling theory, police indulge in the assault as they are often associated with attacking people during protests. Hundreds of people witnessed the assaults as the protests have been largely attended. The witnesses are presumptive adults though their age is not accurately captured. They are from both the White and Black racial backgrounds, all supporting equal treatment of people despite their racial backgrounds. However, none of the witnesses tried to stop the police from attacking the journalist. The reporter’s choice was to report to the committee protecting journalists who, in turn, are following up to give the reporter with justice.
From the above incidences, assault is conducted in broad daylight. Often, the victim cannot defend himself or herself. Instead, he or she has to wait until the attacker leaves before reporting to the authorities. Surprisingly, most witnesses of assault attacks chose to distance themselves instead of helping the victim during the incident. Witnesses to most assault attacks are adults with the power of stopping an attack. However, the current society is brought up in a way that every man fights for himself. Nobody cares about that which is happening to those around them. As a result, assault attackers have become confident enough to attack people at any time as legal repercussions are difficult to achieve (McCaghy, Capron, Jamieson & Carey, 2016). Despite being filmed, the policeman was confident enough to attack the reporter. Besides, despite people walking dealing with Derek, his attacker dared to attack him and further tell him the witnesses had not taken photos or videos as evidence. The absence of intervention from witnesses of assaults aggravates the crime. Thus, witnesses should learn to intervene during assault attacks. Society should try to discourage assault by having more strict consequences when an individual indulges in deviant behaviour.
References
Assault of a 75-year-old man. Obtained from
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-nottinghamshire-53113542
Assault of police BBC news Obtained from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-us-canada-52880970
Humphrey, J. A., & Schmalleger, F. (2019). Deviant behavior. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
McCaghy, C. H., Capron, T. A., Jamieson, J. D., & Carey, S. H. H. (2016). Deviant behavior: Crime, conflict, and interest groups. Routledge.