The attractiveness of violence. Researching the role of intrinsic aspects in the meaning and explanation of youth violence.

For several years now, violence among young people is a hot topic. Likewise, the issue of youth violence is gaining attention in the public opinion, media, political debate and academic discourse. Parallel to this broader debate, traditional criminological research has stagnated in its etiological research and obtaining adequate insight and understanding in violence. In this doctoral research, we argue that a criminology that combines intrinsic, irrational and aesthetic aspects of violence, and the extrinsic, rational and functional elements, is likely to add value to the traditional approach in violence research. The doctoral research tries to fulfil two research objectives. The first purpose is to study feelings and experiences from the perspective of young violent offenders to explore intrinsic aspects of violence. The second objective of this research is to explore the question whether etiological criminology and our understanding of youth violence would gain from combining traditional extrinsic factors and intrinsic aspects of violence. In order to fulfill the research objectives, two phases can be distinguished. In a first phase, we discuss previous literature and a more traditional approach where extrinsic factors are central in explaining violence, and elaborate on the intrinsic aspects of violence as a much neglected focus in traditional etiological research in criminology. In a second phase, we conduct an empirical research that combines a qualitative and quantitative approach. In the qualitative research we conducted interviews with young violent offenders. The quantitative research elaborates on the results of the qualitative study and combines a secondary data-analyses with a self-report study with youngsters in schools. The findings reveal that physical violence is related to intense bodily and emotional sensations. The pleasures of violence not only involved personal satisfaction, but also the prestige and status it could generate, and is therefore also linked to the role of peers and their appraisal. Further, this research indicates that, over and above a number of traditional extrinsic factors, the intrinsic attractiveness of violence adds to the understanding and explanation of violent behaviour. We therefore conclude that the intrinsic aspect of violence is an important and up to this moment underappreciated element in explaining the occurrence of violent offences.nrpages: 383status: publishe