Abstract
The authors have spent careers preventing and transforming violence, as a lawyer for public schools, treatment leader for repeat violent juvenile offenders, victim offender mediator, and an army colonel. Here they share the field-tested insights they have gained over a combined 50 plus years of service. They also elaborate Gandhi's nonviolence (actual and envisioned) so that readers will start to fully appreciate what is required for sustainable nonviolence. He offered several practices, tools, and ideas that have significant potential to help the contemporary world embrace nonviolence as a complex growth-filled way of living, one that promises to help the human race sustain and enrich their civilization(s). This updated chapter will include reflections about preventing and reducing violence with a particular focus on the increased and tragic violence in the United States under the Trump administration.
TopResearch Regarding Violence
In the United States (hereinafter “U.S.”) it is common to hear people attribute violent behavior to mental illness. Perhaps psychologists have created diagnoses for those who violently harm themselves and others, but the research that will be shared here has little if anything to do with sickness. Readers do not need to be doctors or therapists to respond and make important difference in the face of violence and potential violence.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Mediation: Intervention in a process or relationship.
Suspending Judgment: Cognitive process emphasizing the rational state of mind in which one aspires to mental openness while acknowledging judgments.
Common Ground: Mutual interest or agreement; basis for mutuality.
Empathy: The ability to understand the feelings and perspective of another with compassion or kindness.
Reframing: In conflict process, changing a description to emphasize the essential content or meaning productively or positively.
Conflict Resolution: A process for two or more parties to find solutions to conflict.