Terrible Lessons in Violence

What must children think when they see the videotape of the LAPD officers savagely beating a motorist they have arrested? The lessons are many, and they are all bad.

Gang youths often say that the police are “the biggest gang in the world.” The image of a group of men, all dressed uniformly in blue, using weapons to beat someone they view as threatening them, someone who has “disrespected” them, certainly reinforces this belief. Take away the badges, remove the flashing lights and gang members must see images of themselves.

Our culture is ambiguous about the legitimate uses of violence. We deplore violence between persons and are quick to punish those who assault others. Yet there are many occasions when we celebrate violence. We try carefully to delineate “good” from “bad” violence, relying on the context where it occurs to recognize good (war, sports) and bad (child abuse, robbery, gang fights). But what does this videotaped scene teach children, who are struggling to make moral sense about violence and its legitimate uses?

Children’s conclusions about the legitimate uses of violence often foreshadow their involvement in violence later in life--toward children and spouses, toward strangers with whom they have conflicts.