Sociology 2306: Worksheet--"Generations of Violence"

1. Summarize the major kinds of abuse profiled in this video, and provide a brief description of each of the cases that received major attention?

2. In terms of the cases that received major attention, with which abuser(s) did you have the hardest time sympathizing, and why? Was there anyone with whom you were more able to identify?

3. Which kinds of interventions seemed most successful and why? What do we actually know about their success rates?

4. Why is it that only in the last 40 years have the kinds of violence profiled here received major attention from the criminal justice system?

Sociology 2306: Group Project--"Generations of Violence"

1. If we use this video as a source of clues about the causes and consequences of child abuse, what patterns can you identify?

2. Why does Currie in chapter 3 identify programs that target child abusers (and potential abusers) as one of four priorities for crime prevention? What is the evidence he summarizes in relation to programs of home visiting?

3. What do you see as the strengths of programs modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous? Describe the basic philosophy of those programs. What makes them more difficult to evaluate than the home visiting programs described by Currie?

4. Can you find any help in either rational choice theory or social disorganization theory when it comes to understanding the dynamics of physical and/or sexual abuse?