15 TYPES of VIOLENCE

Violence is one of the main causes of death among the population. Every year, millions of people lose their lives violently and many others are injured and suffer a great variety of mental, physical, sexual problems... With data from the 2010 report by WHO (World Health Organization), about 5.8 million people die each year as a result of injuries (10% of all deaths recorded in the world). But what exactly is violence? Are there different types of violence? What are the types of violence?

In this Psychology-Online article we will address the concept of violence to better understand it and we will present the definition of the different types of violence existing today. How many types of violence are there? We will see the 15 main types of violence.

Index

1. What is violence?
2. What are the types of violence?
3. Physical violence
4. Psychological and emotional violence
5. Sexual violence
6. Economic or patrimonial violence
7. Violence against women
8. Violence against children
9. Violence against the elderly
10. Gender violence
11. Violence due to sexual orientation
12. Violence against people with disabilities
13. Domestic or intra-family violence
14. Violence in communities, in the streets and public spaces
15. Violence at school
16. Violence at work
17. Violence through the media and cyberspace

The wide variety of ethical codes in the different countries of the world means that the concept of violence does not have a clear definition. The idea of ​​what is or is not accepted behavior or violent behavior as well as the idea of what causes harm, varies according to different cultures and remains subject to a constant revision. It must be remembered, therefore, that there are many different definitions of violence depending on who does it and in the context in which it is done.

Referring to official data, currently, WHO defines violence What: "The intentional use of force threats against oneself, another person, a group or a community that results in or is very likely to result in trauma, psychological damage, developmental problems or the death."

On the one hand, the definition excludes unintentional acts such as traffic or domestic accidents (for example, burns) and includes both violence interpersonal such as suicidal behavior and armed conflicts as well as acts beyond the physical: threats and intimidation and damages that do not necessarily result in death. This definition would also include those acts that, with certain deficiencies, compromise well-being of individuals, families and communities.

There are different types of violence, below we will see the classification and characteristics of each of the types of violence.

How many types of violence are there? What are the types of violence that exist? Violence can be classified according to multiple criteria. The WHO divides the types of violence according to whether it is interpersonal -that is, acts committed by an individual or group of individuals-, suicide and self-inflicted violence and, finally, collective violence (members of a group versus another group or set of subjects).

Another classification model would be the one carried out by José Sanmartín, who makes a taxonomy according to the type of action, according to the type of damage caused, according to the scenario or context in which it occurs, according to the type of aggressor and according to the type of victim.

In this article we will talk about 15 types of violence following trying to address as much as possible the different criteria to convey broad information:

Violence according to the type of damage caused

• Physical violence
• Psychological and emotional violence
• Sexual violence
• Economic or patrimonial violence

Violence according to the type of victim

• Violence against women
• Violence against children
• Violence against the elderly
• Gender violence
• Violence due to sexual orientation
• Violence against people with disabilities

Violence according to the area where it occurs

• Domestic or intra-family violence
• Violence in communities, in the streets and public spaces
• Violence at school
• Violence at work
• Violence through the media and cyberspace

The first of the types of violence that exist is physical violence. According to the Law Against Intrafamily Violence: "Actions, behaviors or omissions that threaten or injure the physical integrity of a person. "

Following the same Law: "Any direct or indirect action or omission whose purpose is control or degrade the actions, behaviors, beliefs and decisions of other people through intimidation, manipulation, direct or indirect threat, humiliation, isolation or any conduct or omission that damages psychological health, self-determination, integral development and the possibilities personal ".

Among the different types of violence we find sexual violence. What is sexual violence? What situations does it include? According to the WHO: "All sexual act, the attempt to consummate a sexual act, sexual comments or innuendo not wanted, or actions to market or otherwise use a person's sexuality through coercion by another person, regardless of their relationship with the victim, in any setting, including the home and the place of job."

This type of violence is defined according to various areas:

• In the Familiar scope: "action or omission of whoever affects or prevent adequate attention to needs of the family or any of the persons referred to in this law; damages, loses, steals, destroys, retains, distracts or appropriates objects, instruments or property. "
• In the National scope: "includes the attacks by larger groups motivated by the desire for economic profit, such as those carried out with the purpose of disrupting economic activities, deny access to essential services or create economic division and fragmentation".
• In the violence against women, according to the LEIV: "Actions, omissions or behaviors that affect the free disposal of women's assets; including damage to common or own property through transformation, theft, destruction, distraction, damage, loss, limitation, retention of objects, personal documents, property, values ​​and rights patrimonial. Consequently, acts of raising, simulation of alienation of movable or immovable property will be null; whatever the patrimonial regime of the marriage, including that of the non-marital union ”.

Another type of violence is that which occurs against women. How is this type of violence described? According to the UN: “any act of violence based on belonging to the female sex that has or may result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering for the woman, as well as threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether they occur in public life or in life private ”.

Among the different types of violence that exist, one of the most worrying is violence against children. According to the Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents: “Girls, boys and adolescents have the right to have their personal integrity respected, which includes the integrity physical, psychological, cultural, moral, emotional and sexual. Consequently, they may not be subjected to any form of violence, such as abuse, exploitation, mistreatment, torture, punishment or inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment. "

According to the WHO: “Perform a single or repeated act or fail to take certain necessary measures, in the context of any relationship in which there are expectations of trust, and which provoke harm or distress to an older person”.

According to the Spanish Law on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence, approved in 2004, this type of violence is defined as that which "as a manifestation of the discrimination, the situation of inequality and the relationships The power of men over women is exercised over them by whoever is or has been their spouses or those who are or have been linked to them by similar emotional relationships, even without coexistence".

Here you will find more information about types of gender violence, definition and its characteristics.

According to Doctors of the World, this type of violence can have different expressions, “From discrimination to exercise your rights such as denial of employment or educational opportunities, harassment, interference with your privacy, sexual assaults, even torture, mistreatment and hate killings. All of these are often aggravated by the experience of other forms of violence., hate, discrimination and exclusion, such as those based on race, age, religion, disability or economic, social or other status ”.

"All distinction, exclusion or restriction based on disability, history of disability, consequence of previous disability or perception of a present or past disability, which has the effect or purpose of preventing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by people with disabilities of their human rights and freedoms fundamental. "

Another type of violence is that which occurs in the home or between family members. Any action or omission, direct or indirect, that causes damage, physical, sexual, psychological suffering or death to the members of a family and the forms in which it manifests itself can be psychological, physical, sexual and patrimonial. In the following articles we talk in depth about the domestic violence and the domestic violence.

This type of violence includes from street crimes, assaults, road violence, gangs, homicide, rapes... Any crime that occurs on public roads.

Within this class of violence we can differentiate two types:

• The violence inside the school, such as various forms of abuse and discrimination among schoolchildren.
• The one that presents itself from school to young people, such as that produced by the imposition of discipline models that violate human rights.

Among the types of violence that exist, we find violence in the workplace. Violence at work or workplace harassment is "all form of aggression systematic and repeated - habitual psychological abuse - of one or more people against another person, even against others, in the middle of work, constituted by a sequence of hostile, degrading or intimidating actions, specifically directed at - or that have as a result - breaking their communication networks the environment, isolating it from its environment to reinforce its position of dominance, legal and social, and regardless of the injury specifically achieved with respect to its physical or mental health ”. This type of violence is also considered violence against women. In the following article you will find information about the types of workplace harassment or mobbing.

Very linked to symbolic violence. Within this type of violence enters from the image diffusion that instigate violence such as cyberspace practices known as sexting (dissemination or publication of sexual content produced by the sender), grooming(adults who gain the trust of children for the purpose of sexual satisfaction) cyberbullying (harassment of a minor towards another minor through insults etc... using technology) and sextortion (Blackmail through sexual content, be it videos or images of the victim).

Here you will find information about what is and how to prevent sexting, what is and how to prevent grooming and the causes and consequences of cyberbullying.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Types of violence, we recommend that you enter our category of Legal psychology.

• Iborra, I. & Sanmartín, J. (2011). How to classify violence? Taxonomy according to Sanmartín. Criminology and Justice (1), pp. 22-31.
• World Health Organization (2020).World Health Organization.
• World Health Organization (2003). World Report on Violence and Health.
• Rivera, A.M. (2017). Module II. Typology of violence.