Impact of Assault on an Individual and The Community - Term Paper Example

?Impact of assault on an individual and the community: This paper is based on a highly sensitive and grave issue that is profoundly capable of shaping an individual’s psychology and societal structure. Assault is generally considered to be the crime of violence against any other person or any such brutal act comes under the heading of assault that makes the other person encounter severe personal offence. Any aggressive threat of violence against any weak or dependent person coupled with immediate display of force is considered assault and is vehemently condemned all over the globe. Assault also means deliberate physical contact with other person against his/her will, which is quite common at the workplaces especially against women employees. Assault is divided into categories by the crime law, and police or court officials have the power to use force for arresting the offenders committing assault. While some states in United States continue to separate assault from battery, both are commonly combined under a single assault statue according to US common law system. (FreeAdvice, 2011). Simple and aggravated assault form two main categories of assault. Simple assault occurs when an offender puts another person in fear of receiving serious bodily harm or actually causes any kind of harm to that person, while aggravated assault involves particular circumstances that demonstrate profound defiance or disrespect for the value of human life. Aggravated assault also involves reckless threatening of harm or actual physical attack on the person who is at the receiving end, but it has to committed against a member who belongs from an influential or a protected class. A simple case of assault is upgraded into aggravated assault if certain facts inform the court officials that the assault is committed against a police officer, teacher, judge, or any person who performs supreme duties for the public. Some relief is provided regarding the rate of assault in US by the statistical records of Uniform Crime Report, January-June, 2010. Statistical data indicates that “law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported a decrease of 6.2 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention for the first 6 months of 2010.” (The FBI, 2010). These violent crimes included assaults, rapes, and murder. This decrease is reported when compared with figures reported for the same time in 2009. This decrease in the rate of violent crimes in US is also supported by facts and figures provided by US National Crime Victimization Survey, 2009. “The overall victimization rate for violent crimes declined from 19.3 to 17.1 victimizations per 1,000 persons between 2008 and 2009.” (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010). Basically, the decreasing rate of simple assault has contributed to the decline in overall violent crime rate. There are myriad impacts of assault on an individual and the community. It is an established fact that victims of child molestation suffer from long-term affects of mental disturbances and they are also often unable to connect the brutal abuse to the hardships experienced by them all their lives. Such people who are sexually abused by any of their relatives in their childhoods often become introverts in their adult lives. They even have to deal with the consequences of low self-esteem and poor confidence, and both of these things play a vital role in a person’s professional life. Anger, aggression, and depression problems are commonly found in people who have been repeatedly sexually abused in the childhood. Sexual assault can also induce an individual in turning towards alcohol and prescription medicines for seeking relief. Alcohol dependency is thus gradually developed and this consequently, leads to the rapid development of antisocial behavior. In many cases of drug abuse, childhood sexual assault forms one of the most common factors regarding the psychology behind drug abuse. Sexual maladjustment also forms a common grave consequence of the sexual assault. Even if someone is harassed or sexually offended by a criminal in the adulthood, he/she may have trouble adjusting to his/her sexual needs in the later life. Complete aversion to the sexual issues can also develop in such poor victims’ minds, which may produce serious marital difficulties. Domestic violence is another form of assault that also produces serious psychological problems for an individual. It is mentioned in (www.aardvarc.org, 2011) that a drastic personality change occurs from psychological or mental abuse inflicted by batterers that is almost always more potent than physical abuse. Mostly, physical assault is given more attention in the media and criminal offence departments, but the rate of damage done by repeated verbal threatening by a criminal is also highly capable of haunting the poor victim in many adverse ways. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is highly prevalent in those individuals who are abused or threatened psychologically by their ruthless relatives or colleagues. PTSD comes in hand with depression and is characterized by several disturbing symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, emotional numbing, and insomnia. These self-destructive psychological and behavioral problems haunt an abused individual throughout his/her life. Research reports suggest that sexual assault has long-term effects on the community regarding women’s participation in the societal makeup. Assaults like domestic violence result in high rate of absenteeism among women, due to which they are at a higher risk of termination from valuable jobs. The participation of women is markedly reduced as a result of sexual harassment or domestic violence. Many female workers hesitate and are even found afraid of appearing at the workplaces because of the domineering attitudes displayed by their male bosses. According to a Dublin study made on the experiences of sexual assault victims, “fear of crime in general and fear of sexual violence in particular can affect the very nature and quality of women's lives.” (stopvaw.org, 2006). Summing up, this paper is an effort to describe assault and its myriad consequences, which include identification of the major effects it produces on an individual and the community. An individual who experiences assault definitely undergoes severe psychological disturbance and mutilated lifestyle, and the degree of these consequences varies from person to person. Intentional drive forms the bedrock of the action of assault because in every form of assault, the criminal intentionally shocks or threats the other person and causes him/her serious physical harm. References: Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2010). Criminal Victimization, 2009. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv09.pdf FreeAdvice. (2011). Violent Crimes. Retrieved from http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/violent_crimes/assault.htm Stopvaw.org. (2006). Consequences of Sexual Assault on the Community. Retrieved from http://stopvaw.org/Consequences_of_Sexual_Assault_on_the_Community.html The FBI. (2010). Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January-June, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/preliminary-crime-in-the-us-2009 www.aardvarc.org. (2011). Long Term Effects of Domestic Violence. Retrieved from http://www.aardvarc.org/dv/effects.shtml Read More