Criminal Violence Riedel and Welsh, Ch. 9 “Workplace Violence”

Introduction Costly: Workplace violence costs American taxpayers $4 billion to $6 billion annually. Psychological Violence: In addition to physical violence, psychological violence includes ostracism, swearing, name calling, rude gestures, deliberate silence. Multiplier Effects: Workplace violence has effects on the victim’s family, organization, and society.

Types of Workplace Violence Type I Criminal Intent: Offender has no business relationship with the workplace. Most frequent type, includes robbery and theft Type II Customer/Client: Offender is a customer or client of worker. Victims are taxi drivers, police, correctional workers. Type III Worker-on-Worker: Offender is a former or present employee “Going postal” Type IV: Offender has prior relationship with victim carried to workplace. Example: estranged husband kills wife

Types of Workplace Violence

Workplace Homicide The three most frequent types of work-related fatalities: Highway incidents account for the largest number of work-related fatalities Declined to 1,149 in 2008 Falls showed a gradual increase Number of falls in 2008 was the lowest since 1995 Workplace homicides have declined since 1995 There were 517 workplace homicides in 2008 Falls in 2008 lowest since 1995

Nonfatal Workplace Victimization Nonfatal workplace violence accounted for 18% of all violent crime from 1993 to 1996. The most frequent form of nonfatal victimization is simple assault, followed by aggravated assault, robbery, and rape/sexual assault. For the 7-year period, most victims were white males. Highest rate of victimization was for ages 20–49. Workers divorced or separated had the highest rate of victimization, while widowed workers had the lowest rates.

Offender Characteristics Offender characteristics as reported by the victim: Males attack other males 88% and females 13% of the time. Females are more likely to attack other females. Most nonfatal victimizations are intraracial. More than 85% of the attacks involved a single offender. Slightly more than one-third of the victims believed their attacker was using drugs or alcohol. NCVS reports that 55.6% of the attackers were strangers and 39.4% were casual acquaintances.

Explanations Routine activities theory posits that crime occurs when there is a conjunction of suitable targets, likely offenders, and an absence of suitable guardians Routine activities theory is particularly useful to test workplace violence because work is very routine. Research seems to indicate that the theory is best supported where the routine is more or less predictable, such as full-time occupations.

Explanations (cont.) Rational choice theory takes the view that all aggression is instrumental behavior. Rational choice actors assess the payment and costs in their aggression, although they are not always correct. Aggression may lead to workplace violence because of a desire for justice: Distributive justice occurs when an employee becomes angry and aggressive because he or she feels overworked and underpaid. Procedural justice refers to the fairness of the method used to determine outcomes. Interactional justice involves situations of showing respect for others.

Interventions Prevention Policies and Strategies The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health provides a number of prevention strategies: Environmental designs refers to procedures that restrict access to cash, bullet-resistant barriers, and restricted access to the location for nonemployees. Administrative controls refers to plans and policies for escorting patients and controlling movements within the organization. Also includes increasing the number of people on duty in retail establishments Practices regarding the opening and closing of establishments need to be reviewed

Interventions (cont.) How Many Organizations Have Workplace Violence Prevention Programs? Literature review shows a small amount of research on workplace violence. Suggestions for prevention are common sense rather than based on research. In a survey of 299 risk managers, 70% of organizations had not undergone risk assessment for possible workplace violence. Organizations with a stress management plan had a significantly greater number of workplace violence events.

Howard (2001) compared organizations with and without workplace violence policies. Those without a formal policy tended to lack guidelines about the use of discipline following workplace violence, procedures to address workplace violence incidents, termination procedures, and counseling after workplace violence.