Criminology

Over the years, reported and unreported cases of workplace violence have increasingly drawn the attention of the general American public. The violence manifests itself in various forms ranging from physical assaults, use of abusive language, and may in some incidences include murder or manslaughter cases. In the United States, workplace violence is said to be a mirror reflection of the escalating violence cases in the society.

As of the year 2006, this form of violence, based on the alarming statistics, was described as a public health epidemic by the United States Department of Justice. Urgent precautionary measures, legal steps and conflict resolution mechanisms ought to be put in place in order to avert this crisis.

Over the years, violence in the workplace has posed a serious challenge to many business and corporate entities all over the world, including the United States of America. In as much as the ultimate impact of this phenomenon may go unnoticed, there are several long term effects especially on the productivity and cultures of the organization. Larger firms are usually better placed to deal with such crises when compared to smaller businesses with limited resources that may be diverted to address such issues, without affecting the overall performance of the firm in its sector.

The primary objective of this paper is to discuss various aspects of workplace violence including the social problems concerning this crisis within the United States. Criminal justice theories and laws (federal and state government laws) pertaining workplace violence will also be highlighted within the text of this paper.

The Social Problem of Workplace Violence
According to Drukteinis (2006, 4), there are several social problems of that either cause, or result from workplace violence. In the United States, this form of violence may be attributed to various factors such as work related stress, influence of alcohol and drug abuse, increasing poverty levels, work-life imbalance, accessibility to firearms, hard business and economic environment, leading to insecurity within the labor force among other factors (Drukteinis, 4). Poor remuneration may also precipitate workplace violence in that employees may perceive the financial rewards to be disproportional to the nature of work (Pituro, 36). Other related scenarios include conflicts with supervisors, co-workers, disagreements with clients or customers and even individual differences between business proprietors and suppliers.

Some occupations in the United States are said to expose their workers more to workplace violence cases. Such occupations include chauffeurs, taxi cab crews and drivers, retail workers, personnel in law enforcement, security guards, etc. According to research findings, homicide is ranked as one of the leading causes of workplace deaths, accounting for nearly eighty deaths per month (Drukteinis, 6). On average, the statistics further suggest that approximately three out of twenty workers in the United States are susceptible to workplace violence at one point within their career lifetime.

In as much as some occupations such as law enforcement expose the officers to violent scenarios, critics argue that acts of racial profiling play a key role in such incidences (McWilliams, 2008). In the United States, statistics reveal that most encounters associated with violence are in most cases left for black officers (approximately 24 percent of the encounters), compared to white  Hispanic counterparts who encounter barely 10 percent of such violent encounters. This is ironical based on the fact that the approximate number of white officers within the American police force is nearly thrice that of their black counterparts. This argument can only be attributed to racism. In addition, the number of black American soldiers deployed to war torn regions such as Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan for peace keeping missions is usually higher than that of their white counterparts, further exposing them to the risks associated with workplace violence.

Workplace violence has drastic effects on the U.S. economy, according to the National Safe Workplace Institute, murders and assaults cost the economy 4.2 billion dollars in the early nineties (Kennedy, 5). As of 1998, statistics released by Workplace Violence Research Institute indicate that the average loss incurred is nearly 35 billion considering all factors such as work disruptions, litigation, employee turnover, reduced productivity, security expenses, medical  insurance costs etc.  As of 1998, surveys conducted by the U.S. Justice Department revealed that up to one thousand workers got murdered in line of duty and up to two million cases of such violence had been reported by that time.

Even with growing concerns and reported cases of workplace violence, most employees opt to remain at their places of work because of various reasons. If the employer is the perpetrator of the abuse, desperation and harsh economic times may cause his workers to remain in the workplaces in order to earn a living and provide for their families. Some abusers, usually in powerful positions may sometimes issue threats to their employees with an intention of scuttling any efforts to report the violence cases. This plants the fear of victimization on such employees, making the vice to continue within the organization.

Workers may also opt to remain in such abusive work places with the hope that disciplinary steps would be taken against the perpetrators at one point of their career lifetime. Individual life experiences, for instance much worse experiences from previous employers may also force some employees to tolerate the workplace violence or develop strategies to deal with such conflicts internally. In scenarios where abusive coworkers have highly specialized skills in their respective fields, an organization may fail to take appropriate legal actions against such employees due to fear of losing such talents. Thus such workers are retained for the benefit of the organization. The victims of their violent actions usually get trained on avoidance tactics and on skills that may enable such coworkers to change their attitudes and personal attributes.

Addressing the Social Problems of Workplace Violence

Currently, there are several precautionary strategies that could be adopted in the fight against workplace violence. Before adopting any strategy, it is necessary to conduct an adequate evaluation of the possible causes of violence. This may be done through understanding the unique risks associated with the workplace setting and precise reporting of all threats and violent incidents.  Employee awareness programs may be utilized by any organization in detecting possible underlying factors and developing strategies that can minimize the associated risks.

Secondly, with proper identification and understanding of probable risk factors, adequate measures should be put in place to ensure safety within the workplace environment. This may be achieved through discreet landscaping  enhanced lighting, natural surveillance, screening of employees for weapons, restricted access to workplace, intensive security patrols, and fortification of work site territorial boundaries.

In the recruitment and hiring processes, employers ought to exercise maximum caution in order to minimize chances of hiring individuals with violent records. This may be done by tracing the applicants criminal records, drug screening, and verification of professional  academic credentials, among other precautionary measures. Organizations should develop traditions that condemn workplace violence in order to sustain a friendly work force.

Threats issued at workplaces ought to be responded to immediately through investigations conducted by internal or external professionals. If the investigations are carried out on time, potential workplace violence cases could be avoided, saving the organization from the costs associated with the nature of violence.

Criminal Justice Theories

There are several theories that attempt to explain the root causes of the increasing cases of workplace violence in the United States and other parts of the world. Some of these criminal justice theories include the deterrent theory, retributive theory, and preventive theory, and expiatory theory, reformative and retributive theories. In addition, the US criminal justice structures have several remedies that could be applied when addressing workplace violence cases. In the understanding of this phenomenon, several typologies have been formulated to explain these scenarios. Such criminal justice theories enhance the investigations into the patterns, control and etiology of workplace violence.

The criminal justice theories in this domain address several issues including the nature of punishment or penalty to be allocated to those convicted of perpetrating workplace violence. The criminal justice theories revolve around several issues such as corrective justice, procedural justice, retributive justice and distributive justice. According to criminal laws, cases related with workplace violence have to be addressed using retributive justice typologies which advocate for reasonable punishment proportional to the nature of violent crime committed

Many questions have been put across by several American criminologists, the likes of H. A. L Hart, precipitating debates on the existing structures of the criminal justice systems in the United States. Such debates revolve around the adjudicative procedures of punishment, creation of institutions of punishment, legislation principles, permissible disciplinary actions and penalties, etc. Perpetrators of workplace violence in the United States are treated like any other criminals or law breakers and punishmentpenalties imposed in this case follow defined legal systems that are proportional, or match with the stigma associated with lawbreaking or wrongdoing.

The most common criminal justice theory in the United States advocates for retributive justice whereby the offender, in this case the parties orchestrating workplace violence, are made to justly pay for their actions. The nature of penalty imposed on the transgressor by the court of law is usually proportional to the losses brought about by the violent activities.

Laws that pertain to workplace violence

It is a requirement by the Federal and State government laws that any injuries andor damages resulting directly from assaults and exposure to any form of workplace violence be compensated by the employer. This is applicable if and only if the damage in question is caused when the victim is on duty (McClure, 27). To some extent, personal disputes resulting to an assault or physical damages may be compensated if it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that the victims workplace may contribute to the stress or strain preceding the assault. In the United States, there exist several laws that criminalize certain activities such as stalking, hate crimes, trespass, threatening, and weapon handling at workplaces among other malpractices that could precipitate workplace violence.

The law also gives the employees the option of filing independent claims and compensations against their employers. This is usually applicable if violent scenarios arise from intentional misconduct, training, negligent hiring, supervision, retention of violent employees and failures on the part of the employers to take disciplinary actions on workers who perpetrate workplace violence.

Across the various states of the United States, laws addressing workplace violence are being incorporated to address the escalating crisis. Generally, these laws concentrate on sensitive issues such as possession and use of guns, gross misconduct among other related issues at the workplaces. The State and Federal laws also require employers to establish workplace policies that could be used in addressing such scenarios e.g. zero-tolerance, violence response mechanisms, etc.

In the United States of America, several states such as Texas, Florida, Colorado and Arizona have enacted laws that specifically establish, prohibit, andor regulate possession of firearms within the workplace, including keeping firearms in a private vehicle at a parking bay in the workplace. Other states such as Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and California have conventional laws that give job securityprotection  leave to workers and other victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and other forms of violence.

Conclusion

Violence in the workplace is regarded as physical assault, threatening behaviors, or acts of aggression within the work set-up, including sabotage on workplace assets. These actions in most cases cause emotional andor physical harm to coworkers, managers and clients. If not checked, these actions may impact negatively on the performance of employees, productivity and overall profitability. Strict measures ought to be put in place to address such social problems before they escalate to unmanageable levels.

The employees may also undergo training sessions on conflict resolution and dispute management in order to enable them effectively deal with such violent scenarios. To further minimize these crises, organizations need to improve on the communication channels which may be used for reporting such cases. Precautionary measures should also be incorporated within any organization so as to minimize chances of victimization for junior staff who report such cases.

Appropriate laws need to be put in place by various employers and business organizations under guidance from national regulatory bodies such as the United States Department of Labor, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration agency (OSHA), etc in order to ensure compliance to international standards. Improvements need to be carried out on the existing criminal laws at the federal and state levels in order to define disciplinary actions andor legal steps that can be followed in addressing workplace violence.