Any system that aims to deal with the various forms of criminal assault that occur in present day society obviously must base its methods and training on what really occurs 'out there'. From SDT's perspective the following key aspects of street confrontations must drive the formulation of any defensive tactics system.

MENTAL STATES

1. High emotional state: All participants in a confrontation will be in a heightened emotional state (generally more so than if participating in a sporting competition). This could range from being anxious, fearful or even panicked on the one hand or agitated, angry or enraged on the other. These emotional states will impair the individual's ability to think clearly and perform complicated actions particularly requiring fine motor control. If not controlled such heightened emotional states will also detract from an individual's ability to co-ordinate even their gross motor movements causing a loss of muscular power.

2. Mental confusion: It is common for the 'victim' of an attack to experience a state of mental confusion as they try to make sense of the situation and decide how to respond. Because a confrontation, especially a violent one is so out of the norm for the majority of the people and the emotional state is high the primitive survival responses of the person's mind usually assume control. That is unless they are highly and appropriately trained (strongest habit wins).

3. Alcohol: Alcohol plays a significant part in aggressive behaviour in specific situations, notably where there are groups of male strangers, excessive drinking, low comfort and high boredom (Tomson, Homel and Tommeny 1989). In this study of violence at licensed premises, both the victim and offender had consumed a significant amount of alcohol prior to an assault. Drugs are also a factor but are nowhere as common as alcohol induced violence.

4. Intentions and abilities unknown: Unlike martial arts sparring, those involved in a confrontation may have little to no idea of what their opponent's (ultimate) intentions are, what they are capable of or how they intend to conduct themselves [1]. Parties to the confrontation could well be operating by a different set of 'rules', with differing abilities, motivations and intended outcomes. This heightens anxiety and the mental confusion.

PARTICIPANTS

1. Victims and offenders mainly young males: As in most Western industrialized countries both offenders and victims of crimes against the person in Australia are overwhelmingly male, primarily between the ages of 18 and 30, and predominantly from blue collar backgrounds (Cameron 2000, Freeman 1996).

Overall most homicides and assaults are committed by persons known to the victim. Approximately 40% of homicides occur between family members (mainly spouses) and a further 25% are between friends. This picture only changes in inner city areas where there is a high transient population especially on weekend evenings. In the Jochelson study 80% of assault victims and 94% of robbery victims did not know their assailant.

The majority of victims of violence, like the perpetrators, come from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds. Homicide risk, in particular, varies inversely with occupational status.

Firearms are used in approximately 40 per cent of homicides, but in a negligible proportion of nonfatal assaults (sexual or otherwise). They are used in a significant proportion of commercial robberies.

2. Multiple offender crimes are common: incidents involving multiple assailants average about 20% (1 in 5) against all crimes against the person in the US (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2000). In Australia the Jochelson study (1997) of crime in inner Sydney, 32.8% of assaults and 46.8% of robberies involved more than one offender [2]. Many other incidents have others who are present and not directly involved, but who could readily become involved. So in effect any situation in which there are others present could easily become a multiple opponent situation.

3. Verbal and body language are important: It is the nature of confrontations that what is said and especially how it is said combined with body language can escalate or de-escalate a confrontation.

4. Chaotic: The fight stage of a confrontation is notably chaotic and most especially where more than two individuals are involved. Environmental factors such as furniture, confined spaces, poor floor or ground surface, ambient noise, uneven or poor lighting and the presence of other individuals contribute to this confusion. This physical confusion combines with the heightened emotional state and mental confusion (over what is happening) to put the individual into a less than optimum state. A heightened emotional state, which impairs cognitive processing and alters visual and auditory perception, contributes to this sense of chaos and confusion.

5. Advantage with the aggressors: It is common for those initiating premeditated violence on the street to have the advantage in terms of physical size, numbers, weapons or the luxury of choosing the time and place of attack [3]. There is no rule that states participants in street confrontations must be evenly matched [4] as is generally the case in martial arts sparring.

Page 1 | 2 | 3 Next Page >>