Eradicating Violent Pandemics

In an evocative Gary Slutkin keynote speech regarding the spread of violent behavior in North America, an innovate approach to decreasing the number of harmful acts that occur each year is discussed.

The epidemiologist and founder of the anti-violence coalition CeaseFire explains that combating dangerous and harmful human conduct can be approached in a similar manner to the way by which disease elimination is achieved.

By concluding that the propensity toward violence is learned through cultural and situational factors, the speaker then proposes that using behavioral modification tactics can help to diminish violent tenancies. The first step includes identifying and detecting the problem, followed then by interrupting and intervening in the negative behavior and reducing risk factors for all parties involved. Finally, individualized steps are undertaken to change the behavioral patterns of the individual and alter their sense of normality whereby they no longer are see inappropriate aggression as the ideal solution to a problem.