Introduction of Social, Cultural, and Economic Causes of Homicide

There are always some causes behind some actions, and homicides are one of those acts of cruelty, which certainly have some causes behind it. It is not a normal thing for a human to kill another human, there must be some mental or other relevant issues behind such violent acts. . Looking up into many criminals’ pasts, almost all of them were raised in an unhealthy environment which explains a lot, and violence in families would lead to rough childhoods and children could feel lack of emotions which would end up creating a criminal. The feeling of being left out and being unequaled in your society as well as treated differently can also result to bad behavior which would lead to homicide. So, it is important to look at some cultural, social as well as economic causes, which are resulting in homicide. It is essential to know the real issues behind it so that it can be known that why society is leading in this wrong direction and what can be done in this regard [1]

According to a study published in 2012 by the United Nations office on drugs and crimes that almost approximately 437,000 people lost their life from homicides in a year [2]. This is certainly a shocking number for homicide crimes considering that not long-ago homicide was not a crime that happened likely in society. It is scary to think that our society is not safe and that people do not feel safe anymore because of the massive increase, but why are offenders committing homicide and what are the reasons? The offenders who are committing these crimes could have social problems, such as problems with their families or they could have economic issues such as inequality in income and inequality in wealth or, they could have different kinds of social & cultural issues [3]

The Causes behind Homicides

            There are always some concerns for society to look at and homicide is one of those issues of concern, which cannot be ignored by the society in any given circumstances. There must be some strong reasons that over the years, the rate of homicide has been increasing and some serious rapid changes have been observed over the period of time. As per the results taken from a study, it was revealed that there are many dynamic relationships between economic, political and social factors and homicide rates. This study looked at the results from the era of 1970s to the period of year 2000. It was observed that during the 1990s, there was a decline in rate of homicides in United States, but then various issues played their part in increasing the rate of homicide. The results obtained from the study did observe that economic and social problems have been major elements in increase of homicide. The other reason behind this issue was growth of youth population as well [4]. It means that things have been changing with time, and many issues arose with the passage of time leading to increase the homicide rates. It looks that homicide happens to be the most considerable factor behind increasing rate of homicides. The people who are disadvantaged on economic terms are linked with homicides. A research study did find out that economic disadvantage was linked with homicide on the basis of different age groups, but it was also revealed that as the age grew in people, they tend to show little behavior towards homicide, but that still depended on various factors such as family disruption, residential instability, and economic disadvantage. It clearly shows that rate could increase or decrease, but there will always be some economic factors behind those rates. If people are able to earn better living with the passage of time, then there is more likelihood that homicide rate will be less, but when there will be inequality on the basis of economic disadvantages, then chances of homicide would always be there [5]

            It is also important to understand that in different countries, there can be different reasons behind homicide and other violent crimes, and there must be some link with economic growth or issues. It is essential to look at some reasons and factors coming from various regions of the world other than United States. Like a study conducted for the population of Mexico find out that violent crimes and homicides in Mexico are linked with various issues, and economic issue is one of the most significant one. It was observed that there are several economic aspects related to rate of crime and homicide. For instance, the income inequality as well as unemployment used to be the most significant factors. So, if Mexico or various other nations want to decrease the rate of homicide and minimize its economic impacts, then they have to seriously work on to decease the unemployment rate. It means that economic growth is the perfect solution to mainly deal with the issue of homicide [6]. The people who grow up in the environment of poverty, where they don’t have enough means of life to enjoy their lives, then the chances of homicides can be more in such situations. Poverty leads people to so much mental stress and pressure. People who have responsibility of their family members on their shoulders, and don’t have enough income to fulfill the responsibility, then such financial pressures can lead to violent behavior, which ultimately can end in homicides. Moreover, the people with less income deal with health problems, which can be physical or psychological, and when there is no treatment for them, then outfall of such situation is going to be dangerous for the society. Keeping all these facts in view, it can be said that economic factors such as poverty, income and wealth inequality can lead to serious repercussions of homicides, and this rate of homicide may increase extensively if economic conditions remain worst [7]

            There can be various aspects in terms of economic factors leading to the homicides. As mentioned above that unemployment as well as income inequality are dangerous in this regard, because when these two things penetrate in a society, then there are strong chances that a reaction would come, and that can be suicides and homicides. The people who don’t bear the burden of unemployment and income issues, and left in severe financial problems, then they may commit suicide to get out of the situation. And some will react otherwise, by taking from the ones, who have wealth and income. It also increases the crime rate because street crimes, theft, and dacoits may kill people to snatch their belongings like money or anything else. These deprived people want money to enjoy their lives at least with basic necessities. A study came with astonishing figures for forty countries related to suicides and homicides. The researchers’ collected data from 1962 to 2008 about forty countries, and came up with some conclusions. The study revealed that individual characters were less influential in homicides, where as macro level elements such as social and economic factors were more dominating in the essence of homicides. The violent crimes and death were found to be associated with income inequality and unemployment [8]. Such kind of studies with these scary results are signifying the facts again that economic conditions remains to be crucial with regards to homicide. So, government and concern authorities have to keep such things in mind while making economic policies, because these policies do affect people in so many different ways. If economic policies are not generating enough jobs and income and wealth rates are increasing, and there is a clear divide of rich and poor in the society, then there can be various effects coming out with serious implications, and homicide is one of those serious consequences happening due to economic conditions.

It is important to find other causes of homicides, which are not economic in nature. The research has found in various ways that people with having addiction to drug and alcohol are also observed to show homicide behaviors. The persons who use different kind of drugs are mostly uneducated, and they have poor living conditions as well. Then this drug addiction becomes an issue for them to keep their selves satisfied with drugs. When they don’t have money, or there are any other issues with drug deals etc, then violent behavior is shown by these drug addictions, and this violent behavior results in homicide. The studies have found that there is a positive relationship between homicide and use of alcohol and drugs [9]. The homicide numbers are very scary as it has been revealed that 3^rd most significant leading death cause for U.S adolescents is homicide. The number shows the severity of the issue. A detailed study tried to investigate that what relationship is there between homicide and use of alcohol and drug. The results from the study were very concerning, as it was revealed that adolescents having the history of drug use were more likely to commit homicide. Moreover, a drug user living in a neighborhood, where drug and alcohol use is more common, then such areas adolescents will be involved in homicide more than any other people. The use of drug in the family or neighborhood and on personal level was significantly related with the homicide. It clearly depict that drug use is a dangerous sign, and if its use will be more in any particular area, then there is likelihood of homicide. [10]

            The problem of homicide is not restricted to any particular society or culture; rather it is spread across culture. So, it is important to identify that which cultural factors are leading in the acts of homicides. The role of culture is critical t shape the societies that how people will live together and how they will behave to each other. When there are not strong values in any culture, and threat of law is also at minimum, then things are serious in such societies. When people will have certain socioeconomic disadvantages, and they will not be given chances by the society to grow equally, then this culture of inequality can cause some serious problems, and homicide is one of them. The role of social and cultural institution is crucial in this regard. If they will be strong enough, then they can really deal with any violent behaviors, but when institutions are weak, then social and cultural system works on those weak aspects, and the chances of homicide increases a lot in such social and cultural environments [11]. The stakeholders have to analyze and review social determinants as well that why people commit homicide and which issues or social factors force them to take such extremes steps that they kill others and ruin their lives all together. The education level is very important social factor in this regard. The individuals with less education or non-education backgrounds don’t have enough values to progress in a society like a normal individual. So, they develop their own values and behaviors out of worst circumstances, and they don’t have enough information that how to behave in a civilized society. Then such uneducated persons involve in different illegal activities, and homicides are one of the dominant ones. The people with less educated backgrounds remain poor and they also move to urban areas to earn their livelihoods. Such migration to urban areas increases the issues and poverty is one of them. All of these factors lead to different crimes, and homicide is one of them with a strong presence [12].

            The role of education can be instrumental in determining the rate of homicides across United States. Earlier, it was mentioned that less educated or uneducated people are more prone to commit homicides as compared to those, who have received good enough education. It is also interesting to review numbers from different states, that different U.S states have varying numbers with regards to homicides. The studies have found that education was very much influential in decreasing the rate of homicides. It has also been observed that in different states, just the education of high school level can make a vast difference, which means there is no need to talk about college or university level, because even high school education can be significant, and help to mitigate various social causes of homicides. The people with good education earns well and get better job, and they fall under a good average social class in the society, which means that they don’t have deprived feeling, which uneducated and rejected people can have. The impact of education on rates of homicides may not be too high, but still a gradual impact can also help. In addition to that one more finding from the study was shocking to review that homicides rate happens to increase, where African American population is more in numbers. It was not found that why this relationship exists, but there were many indications, which indicated that relationship between African American population and homicides rate does exist. On the other hand, the study also talked about the gun culture and controlling tit with some policies. The facts shows that states having better gun control acts and laws had little less homicides rate as compared to those, where no laws are there for this purpose. It means that gun control can also be crucial if United States want to decrease the rate of homicides. It was also observed that homicides rate can also be associated with urban life, where trend can be higher than the rural areas. Various factors could be behind these social and cultural issues relating to homicides and increasing its numbers with the passage of time. The government and all other stake holders need to look at these findings and numbers to develop policies on economic level, and develop a social & cultural environment, which discourages such kind behaviors [13]

Conclusion on Social, Cultural, and Economic Causes of Homicide

            It can be concluded after reviewing so many facts and figures regarding homicide that there are certainly various social, cultural as well as economic caused behind homicides. The numbers in United States are concerning for authorities in so many ways, and authorities have to look into it. The range of factors can be varying in different societies, but in one way or the other, homicides have been caused by social, cultural and economic reasons. The economic reasons happen to be the most influential in this regard, as economic aspects and policies can have different consequences. The bad economic policies can cause bad economic conditions, which may lead to more poverty through income inequality, wealth inequality, income gaps, unemployment etc. The financial issues put people in so much trouble that they may involve in violent behaviors and commit crimes like homicide. On the other hand, social and cultural values are also important because if population has enough education with good inherited cultural values, then rate of homicides can be less; otherwise it would remain high, and will keep increasing with the passage of time.

 References of Social, Cultural, and Economic Causes of Homicide