Science News for Writers

Over the past two plus years, I've posted more than a few research reports in SNfW about the causes of violence.  One cause commonly blamed for violence is mental illness, which research clearly shows is not true.  In fact, people suffering mental problems are much more likely to be victims of crime rather than perpetrators.  Now, one presidential candidate states that his position is to solve gun violence in our society by focusing on the mentally ill, again, bringing attention to a group that is not a cause. Mental Illness Less Likely to Lead to Violence than Drugs, Rage or Access to Guns The research below discusses another cause of violence: men who's self-image is damaged, and who feel they must resort to violence to look masculine.  This obviously isn't a mental illness, but it is a problem. This phenomena impacts character development and story in so many ways. Here's the story with a link to the full report in the attribution. *...

Credit: University of Basel, IPNA Severe injuries inflicted either shortly before or after death: Cranial injury on a child between 3 to 5 years of age. If anyone thinks that mass killing is a modern phenomena, well, it's something the human species has been up to for a very long time.  These two Central European sites make it clear that man's inhumanity to man has deep roots. What this and like research projects don't address is the reason for the extermination of large groups of men, women and children.  Was it to make a political point?  Was it ethnic cleansing?  We may never know, though we can guess. For the writer of historical fiction, these sites create situations for speculation and the development of story lines exploring how we treat each other. Here's the report, with a link to the original study in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Science. *  *  *  *  *   Massacres, torture and mutilation:  ...

" The perception that people with mental illness are more violent is a myth reinforced by the media ." To understand the violence inherent in human society, especially the many mass shootings in our country in addition to our world's-highest murder rate, it's important that screenwriters, authors and journalists understand what causes - and what doesn't cause - someone to kill someone else. One of the common misconceptions with both the public, journalists, writers of fiction and screenplays is that mental illness is a major cause of violence, especially murder . This conclusion does not compute, to quote science officer Spock of the Starship Enterprise. In fact, research shows that the mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators. As writers, we each have a responsibility to present accurate and true profiles of killers and mass murderers in our work.  By stating or implying that anyone who commits a viol...