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6 CRIMES OF VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL PERSPECTIVES
- State University of New York Press
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CHAPTER SIX CRIMES OF VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL PERSPECTIVES Simha F. Landau Introduction This chapter presents a macrolevel analysis of violent crime in Israel. In this analysis 1 will examine the relationship between patterns of violent crime and a number of features that are unique to Israeli reality. 1 begin with a brief outline of general trends in violent crime over time. The concept of social stress is then introduced as a useful theoretical framework for understanding and explaining violent crime in the Israeli context. After reviewing the special stress factors that prevail in Israel, an attempt is made to relate these factors to patterns of violent crime, utilizing both theoretical models and empirical findings. Cultural norms are a key concept in understanding and explaining human behavior in general and violent behavior in particular (Berkowitz, 1993; Wolfgang and Ferracuti, 1967). In an ethnically heterogenous society such as Israel, the effect of cultural norms of conduct on violent behavior is of special significance. Thus, in my analysis 1 will examine the differential distribution of violent crime in various ethnic groups in Israeli society. Israeli society is characterized by a number of internal cleavages and conflicts, all with great potential for violence. Thus, the 97 98 CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE role of violence in some of the major structural internal conflicts will also be discussed. In my concluding remarl1:s, s()me comparisons between Israel and other industrialized countrie~; with regard to violence will be presented. General Trends The two main sources of informa1;ion about the extent of criminal behavior, including violent crime, are criminal statistics and victim surveys. Victim surveys in Israel have, to date, been very few and far between (see Landau and Sebba, 1991). Therefore, the present analysis on trends in crimes of violence in Israel will be based . mainly on reported criminal statistics el covering a variety of unlawful כ Violent crime" is a general la1 " behaviors. Quite a number of these crimes are notoriously underrepresented in criminal statistics. Among these are rape (and other forms of sexual assault), :lssault against family members spouses, children), and violence within certain social groups. My ( Linly on homicide (including attempted ~ present analysis will focus m homicide) and robbery. Homicide is universally considered to be the most severe of violent crimes, whereas robbery combines personal 1e seriousness of these two crimes נ violence with threat to property. T h visibility, make them the most ~~ of violence, coupled with their hi reliably reported crimes, and thu.s they can be used as relatively . accurate indicators of the level of violence in society these crimes is that, unlike the ס.מ Another reason for focusing laws pertaining to other categories of violent crime (rape and spou sal violence), their legal definition has not changed over time. Such legal changes inevitably aftect ()fficial statistics, introducing an . artifact" effect when trends are analyzed " My data cover a period of fort,y-four years, from 1949 (the first Lre available) to 1992. They were ~ year for which annual statistics collected from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (Central .) 1949-1992 , Bureau of Statistics Figure 6.1 presents the annual rates of homicide (including attempted homicide). As can be seen, several distinct trends in ing this period. The first years ~ homicide rates are observe(l du] [54.224.124.217] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:42 GMT) 99 SRAEL ו N ו OLOGY OF CRIME ו OLOGY AND ET ו DEM ו THE EP after the establishment of the state of Israel (in 1948) witnessed a sharp increase in homicide, reaching an all-time high in both 1952 and 1953 (11.0 per 100,000 population). This was followed by a consistent dec1ine 1asting sixteen years, down to 1.9 in 1969. During the 1970s, homicide rates rose again, reaching 6.3 in 1979. From 1980 to 1988 there was another decrease, fo110wed by another upward trend in the 1ast four years covered here (1989-1992). The annua1 rates of robbery, presented in Figure 6.2, reveal that the genera1 trend of this vio1ent crime is very simi1ar (though not identica1) to that of homicide. The overa11 pattern of robbery 12, I lot ~:1 ~ I I I 4+ I I 2t I 0+H I III-;+t+++t-+++i-t-t+-,f-t l!+i ! I II-H 1990 1985 1980 1975 1970 VEAR 1965 1960 1955 1950 Figure 6.1 Annual Rates of Homicide and Attempted Homicide in Israel, 1949-1992 (per 100,000 population) 100 CRlME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE rates is...