WAVE (Worldwide Alternatives to ViolenceE) was formed in 1996 to develop an understanding of the causes of violence - especially child-abuse - and to research effective reduction measures. Our research has produced the following conclusions:

1.     There has been a massive increase in violence since 1950.

2.     Violence has two interactive components: propensity (personal factors), which may be likened to an unexploded bomb, and triggers (social factors), or fuses.

3.     Social factors reflect long-term cultural shifts and are unlikely to be reversed. They include:

i)     longer gestation period between adolescent males achieving puberty and beginning work;
(ii)   sharp rise in teenage alcohol consumption;
(iii)   growth of television viewing, modelling violent behaviour, and
(iv)   huge expansion in the territory young males cover, far beyond areas where they are known, and much reduced supervision of their leisure behaviour.




4.     If it is unrealistic to radically reduce the number of fuses, we can reduce the number of unexploded bombs - people with propensity to violence - walking our streets and ruining our families.

5.     The prime time when humans develop propensity to violence is aged 0-3 years. Whether infants develop this propensity depends on the way they are cared (or not cared) for. The article explains care that nurtures and care that damages children. Damage includes the creation of mental health problems as well as the propensity to violence.

6.     Effective measures to reduce significantly the propensity for violence already exist. These require proactive intervention, either before or very soon after children have been abused.

7.     WAVE recommends four such measures. We particularly favour programmes aimed directly at fostering the development of attunement in parents and empathy in children, because absence of empathy often paves the way for horrendous acts of violence and cruelty by both children and adults.

8.     We also draw attention to the role post-traumatic stress disorder (often resulting from child-abuse or neglect) plays in violent behaviour. When recognised, PTSD can be treated very effectively.

9.     The measures recommended have been shown to produce striking reductions in violent behaviour, child-abuse and criminal offending, and make economic sense.

10.    Devoting resources to improving infant care is our best hope of producing peaceable citizens - "The hand that rocks the cradle" really does shape the world.   (Read complete article)