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THE VIOLENCE PROJECT:
A Study of the Parameters, Results, and Dynamics of 1,000 Acts of Violence
by James LaFond
(Black Belt Magazine, June 2004)
(About the Author: James LaFond is a free-lance writer based in Maryland. For more information about his books, visit http://www.paladin-press.com)
CASE NO. 46-05: night, munites, first-person defender. Duncan, a 6-foot-4-inch 240-pound bouncer had just ejected a short, stocky PCP freak by putting him in a full nelson and opening the door with his face. A friend of the freak's then pushed Duncan out onto the sidewalk, unhitched a chain he was wearing as a belt and began swinging it. As Duncan, standing between the two, turned towards the chain man, Gordon, a 6-foot-6-inch 300-pound friend of Duncan's, stopped his car, rushed over and began a minute-long disposal of "the twerp with the chain." At that point, the freak charged
Duncan.
Duncan hit him in the face with a straight right and grabbed the shorter man's shirt with his left hand. He then shoulder-butted the freak in the chest, picked him up, and threw him to the pavement, then kicked him when he rose to charge. This sequence of events was repeated at least 10 times until Duncan became tired -- which, he said, is unusual for him because he enjoys fighting and feels no stress under such circumstances. Besides, most of his battles are decided in less than five seconds. Duncan and the freak clinched again. When Duncan "got low" to gain leverage for a throw,
the freak bit into his left shoulder and began to tear off a piece. Duncan was stunned but quickly regained his composure. As the freak munched away, Duncan placed his left ear between his teeth and ripped it off. Then the police pulled up, saw the blood, and took them to the hospital.
Duncan is a Navy veteran who has fought on construction sites, worked as a bodyguard, survived a stabbing and a bat beating, been "thrown clear over a pickup truck" by a larger man and done his share of illegal debt collection. His piercing gaze and coarse beard that grows nearly to his eyes contrasts sharply with his irrepressible sense of humor. This was his favorite fight, he said, and the particulars of it are recorded on line 5 of page 46 of my violence index. They are included here not to shock but to show martial artists how complex and unpredictable real fights can be.
Since 1974, I've practiced various Western and Asian fighting arts for the purpose of self-defense. Some of them were taught as sports, some as meditations on the warrior tradition and some as methods of combat. Regardless of their philosophical orientation, each teacher passed on tools that enhanced my survivability in subsequent altercations. Enduring beatings and surviving brawls provided a context for my training. Having been taken to the pavement by a large athlete, I didn't need my wrestling coach to explain the value of the sprawl. Having been sucker-punched, I have no
need for my boxing trainer to point out the value of rolling with a punch. When my Wing Chun teacher introduced me to the art of trapping, there was no need for him to sell the point because once you've fought in a doorway, trapping makes perfect sense. Likewise, having used a razor to fend off a man clad in a leather jacket, I understood my Kali instructor's emphasis on striking the opponent's hand.
Having a reference for absorbing combat instruction is a definite advantage. The purpose of my study was to provide that advantage to those who lack real fighting experience. I began with my own experiences: 12 unarmed and eight armed encounters. Then I devised a questionnaire, distributed 200, and collected 29. I added 19 news and security reports that were detailed enough to provide the information required to document a violent act. There was also incidents I was involved in or witnessed. The original target was 400 acts. By October 1998, I had reached 460, many of which were collected through casual conversations with folks who didn't know they were being interviewed and were obviously puzzled by my curiousity.
When Black Belt accepted my first article and showed interest in the study, prying information from brawlers, thugs, and victims became easier. There was no more ducking into the men's room to take notes. People who don't read much love to talk to writers. One night, as I entered a local bar to conduct an interview, a young woman yelled "Hey, that's the violence guy." The next day, I had business cards printed -- and I have been collecting anecdotes ever since. The total is now more than 1,000. The people interviewed for my study ranged from compulsive brawlers like Duncan to grocery clerks who survived domestic altercations. Most of the subjects were members of the working class in Baltimore, Maryland.
THE DETAILS OF THE INCIDENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
--60% were described as attacks (as opposed to mutual combat)
--59% occured outside
--59% occured after dark
--53% involved drug or alcohol abuse
--17% actually occured on the street
With respect to the action that took place, the statistics were:
--57% of the aggressors were successful (32% by KO)
--13% of the defenders were successful (50% by KO)
--30% had no real winner
--28% of the defenders required medical care
--7% of the agressors required medical care
--28% of the fights were reported to the police
--16% resulted in an arrest, criminal charge, or civil suit
Few of the subjects I interviewd could assign a duration to any struggle that was not resolved instantly. Time perception seems to warp under stress. Uusually when they would say one minute, they would really mean
10 seconds. However, by breaking down the incidents act by act and calculating interventions, it became possible to place fights into one of three broad categories:
1) 63% were resolved in less than 10 seconds. Most were highly successful attacks decided within the first five seconds. The balance involved indecisive third-party altercations, defenders successfully drawing and
brandishing a weapon before contact, and trained fighters countering or intercepting untrained attackers, often resulting in a KO.
2) 25% lasted 10 seconds to one minute. They were most often successful defenses. The second most common type of mid-duration events were successful attacks against a group, usually by a lone aggressor.
3) 13% lasted more than one minute. Most were acts of extreme violence in which the attacker gained the crucial advantage within seconds.
The survey revealed a treasure trove of facts that can aid any female martial artist interested in self-defense:
--11% of the situations involved a female aggressor
--17% of the defenders were or included a female
--3% of the female defenders were trained fighters
Of those encounters that involved women committing acts of violence on other women:
--67% involved drug or alcohol abuse
--33% went to the floor
--20% were related to traffic
--43% were indecisive
When the fight took place between a man and a woman:
--46% involved women attacking men
--45% of female on male attacks were successful
Female defenders were five times more likely to be unarmed than their male counterparts. Women are just as likely as men to be attacked with a weapon. Perhaps the most important finding was that female students of self-defense with no previous fighting experience successfully defended themselves 75% of the time. It seems that martial art training really does pay off.
In the study, 25% of the aggressions were commited by a group. The average size of a group that attacked a man was four; a woman, two. The percentage of group aggressors who were armed was 46%;their preferred weapons were clubs and handguns. Three-quarters of group encounters occured outside, and 39% resulted in an injury to the defender. 7% of the defenses initiated by an individual were successful.
38% of the encounters involved or resulted in grappling. This figure includes clinches (both parties standing), throws (one party down), and floor fights (both parties down). Almost one-quarter involved the use of weapons.
Only 15% of the floor fights took place between sober men.
It must be noted that all the documented battles took place in the Baltimore area. Fighting tactics can and do vary according to the customs of the region being examined. As you fine-tune your self-defense training,
it would behoove you to adjust the findings described in this article using the experiences recounted by the residents of your own city of country.
THE VIOLENCE PROJECT:
A Study of the Parameters, Results, and Dynamics of 1,000 Acts of Violence
by James LaFond
(Black Belt Magazine, June 2004)
(About the Author: James LaFond is a free-lance writer based in Maryland. For more information about his books, visit http://www.paladin-press.com)
CASE NO. 46-05: night, munites, first-person defender. Duncan, a 6-foot-4-inch 240-pound bouncer had just ejected a short, stocky PCP freak by putting him in a full nelson and opening the door with his face. A friend of the freak's then pushed Duncan out onto the sidewalk, unhitched a chain he was wearing as a belt and began swinging it. As Duncan, standing between the two, turned towards the chain man, Gordon, a 6-foot-6-inch 300-pound friend of Duncan's, stopped his car, rushed over and began a minute-long disposal of "the twerp with the chain." At that point, the freak charged
Duncan.
Duncan hit him in the face with a straight right and grabbed the shorter man's shirt with his left hand. He then shoulder-butted the freak in the chest, picked him up, and threw him to the pavement, then kicked him when he rose to charge. This sequence of events was repeated at least 10 times until Duncan became tired -- which, he said, is unusual for him because he enjoys fighting and feels no stress under such circumstances. Besides, most of his battles are decided in less than five seconds. Duncan and the freak clinched again. When Duncan "got low" to gain leverage for a throw,
the freak bit into his left shoulder and began to tear off a piece. Duncan was stunned but quickly regained his composure. As the freak munched away, Duncan placed his left ear between his teeth and ripped it off. Then the police pulled up, saw the blood, and took them to the hospital.
Duncan is a Navy veteran who has fought on construction sites, worked as a bodyguard, survived a stabbing and a bat beating, been "thrown clear over a pickup truck" by a larger man and done his share of illegal debt collection. His piercing gaze and coarse beard that grows nearly to his eyes contrasts sharply with his irrepressible sense of humor. This was his favorite fight, he said, and the particulars of it are recorded on line 5 of page 46 of my violence index. They are included here not to shock but to show martial artists how complex and unpredictable real fights can be.
Since 1974, I've practiced various Western and Asian fighting arts for the purpose of self-defense. Some of them were taught as sports, some as meditations on the warrior tradition and some as methods of combat. Regardless of their philosophical orientation, each teacher passed on tools that enhanced my survivability in subsequent altercations. Enduring beatings and surviving brawls provided a context for my training. Having been taken to the pavement by a large athlete, I didn't need my wrestling coach to explain the value of the sprawl. Having been sucker-punched, I have no
need for my boxing trainer to point out the value of rolling with a punch. When my Wing Chun teacher introduced me to the art of trapping, there was no need for him to sell the point because once you've fought in a doorway, trapping makes perfect sense. Likewise, having used a razor to fend off a man clad in a leather jacket, I understood my Kali instructor's emphasis on striking the opponent's hand.
Having a reference for absorbing combat instruction is a definite advantage. The purpose of my study was to provide that advantage to those who lack real fighting experience. I began with my own experiences: 12 unarmed and eight armed encounters. Then I devised a questionnaire, distributed 200, and collected 29. I added 19 news and security reports that were detailed enough to provide the information required to document a violent act. There was also incidents I was involved in or witnessed. The original target was 400 acts. By October 1998, I had reached 460, many of which were collected through casual conversations with folks who didn't know they were being interviewed and were obviously puzzled by my curiousity.
When Black Belt accepted my first article and showed interest in the study, prying information from brawlers, thugs, and victims became easier. There was no more ducking into the men's room to take notes. People who don't read much love to talk to writers. One night, as I entered a local bar to conduct an interview, a young woman yelled "Hey, that's the violence guy." The next day, I had business cards printed -- and I have been collecting anecdotes ever since. The total is now more than 1,000. The people interviewed for my study ranged from compulsive brawlers like Duncan to grocery clerks who survived domestic altercations. Most of the subjects were members of the working class in Baltimore, Maryland.
THE DETAILS OF THE INCIDENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
--60% were described as attacks (as opposed to mutual combat)
--59% occured outside
--59% occured after dark
--53% involved drug or alcohol abuse
--17% actually occured on the street
With respect to the action that took place, the statistics were:
--57% of the aggressors were successful (32% by KO)
--13% of the defenders were successful (50% by KO)
--30% had no real winner
--28% of the defenders required medical care
--7% of the agressors required medical care
--28% of the fights were reported to the police
--16% resulted in an arrest, criminal charge, or civil suit
Few of the subjects I interviewd could assign a duration to any struggle that was not resolved instantly. Time perception seems to warp under stress. Uusually when they would say one minute, they would really mean
10 seconds. However, by breaking down the incidents act by act and calculating interventions, it became possible to place fights into one of three broad categories:
1) 63% were resolved in less than 10 seconds. Most were highly successful attacks decided within the first five seconds. The balance involved indecisive third-party altercations, defenders successfully drawing and
brandishing a weapon before contact, and trained fighters countering or intercepting untrained attackers, often resulting in a KO.
2) 25% lasted 10 seconds to one minute. They were most often successful defenses. The second most common type of mid-duration events were successful attacks against a group, usually by a lone aggressor.
3) 13% lasted more than one minute. Most were acts of extreme violence in which the attacker gained the crucial advantage within seconds.
The survey revealed a treasure trove of facts that can aid any female martial artist interested in self-defense:
--11% of the situations involved a female aggressor
--17% of the defenders were or included a female
--3% of the female defenders were trained fighters
Of those encounters that involved women committing acts of violence on other women:
--67% involved drug or alcohol abuse
--33% went to the floor
--20% were related to traffic
--43% were indecisive
When the fight took place between a man and a woman:
--46% involved women attacking men
--45% of female on male attacks were successful
Female defenders were five times more likely to be unarmed than their male counterparts. Women are just as likely as men to be attacked with a weapon. Perhaps the most important finding was that female students of self-defense with no previous fighting experience successfully defended themselves 75% of the time. It seems that martial art training really does pay off.
In the study, 25% of the aggressions were commited by a group. The average size of a group that attacked a man was four; a woman, two. The percentage of group aggressors who were armed was 46%;their preferred weapons were clubs and handguns. Three-quarters of group encounters occured outside, and 39% resulted in an injury to the defender. 7% of the defenses initiated by an individual were successful.
38% of the encounters involved or resulted in grappling. This figure includes clinches (both parties standing), throws (one party down), and floor fights (both parties down). Almost one-quarter involved the use of weapons.
Only 15% of the floor fights took place between sober men.
It must be noted that all the documented battles took place in the Baltimore area. Fighting tactics can and do vary according to the customs of the region being examined. As you fine-tune your self-defense training,
it would behoove you to adjust the findings described in this article using the experiences recounted by the residents of your own city of country.
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