NCJ Number
153364
Journal
Criminal Justice Quarterly Issue: 9 Dated: (1994) Pages: 13-15
Date Published
1994
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article examines how approaching violence as a public health issue in New Zealand also encompasses human rights issues.
Abstract
Violence can be viewed as a public health issue, because violence clearly affects the health of the victim, and it can also be argued that it adversely affects the health of the offender due to the impact of aggressive urges on the human body. Many of the aspects of this argument are, however, based on correlational links and are very difficult to prove. One starting point that is on solid ground is the fact that violence against a person is a violation of that person's human rights, and when a human right is infringed, the issue becomes one of justice. Any campaign to change violence in New Zealand must ensure that all people have been given training as to the rules of human behavior. There is now a legally recognized expectation that a male must not react with aggression to affirm his manhood. A public health campaign based on human rights will recognize the new rules, enforce them, educate the public about them, restrain and retrain those who engage in violence, and ensure that those men who refuse to change and behave by the rules receive consequences of that refusal.