Resist I say, resist.
In part one I linked to a press release that mentioned a study I have never heard of before. One that showed resisting crime was normally to the good of the victim. After a call to Minnesota and a few more to Florida I finally got my hands on the report.
Resisting Crime: The effects of victim action on the outcome of crimes
Jonhgeon Tark
Gary Kleck
Florida State University
When I talked to Mr. Kleck I asked him if he was surprised at the results he found especially when the police and press have always said that resisting leads to more violence.
His reply of “No, Not at all” surprised me. He went on that he had done other studies and research projects and findings elsewhere have shown that resisting normally lead to less injury to the victim.
The report starts by showing how data was recorded and interpreted. Then the results are shown. The results are shown in chart form and good explanations throughout.
But it is words in the conclusion that raised my eyebrows.
It is in this light that we offer tentative advice to victims. While there are exceptional situations, victims resistance is usually either successful or inconsequential, and on the rare occasion that it is harmful, it is rarely seriously so. There fore unless there are circumstances that clearly indicate resistance will lead to significant harm, the evidence reported in this paper indicates that some form of resistance should be the path generally taken.
Now this goes in the face of all the police and media have always said. The chanting from them that resisting will only lead to more violence does not stand up to the light of a university study.
He also says something that every second amendment activist should read.
Various kinds of forceful victim protective behavior, such as threatening the offender with a gun or other weapon, show the strongest negative coefficients, though none are significant. A conservative interpretation would be that armed and other forceful resistance does not appear to increase the victim’s risk of injury.
Again against everything told by the police and media.
He ends the report with this
Future research might bring better evidence that contradicts these conclusions. At present, however, the best available evidence indictaes that victim resistance is generally wise.
The report is a good read, even though some of the breakdown material did confuse me a bit. I have it on a PDF file(7.9mb) and will send it to anyone who wants a copy. Drop me a line at “noquartersblog ***at*** yahoo ***dot*** com” and I will send a copy your way.
Justin Buist has kindly hosted it on his server for those who want a copy. Here it is for your reading pleasure
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Note: I have gotten back a MAILER-DAEMON failure notice on one email I sent out. If you requested a copy and have not received it yet please email me.
July 24th, 2005 at 9:44 am
I always ask people who preach the ‘do not resist’ method what they would tell a 10 year girl to do if grabbed by a man and dragged to his van? The always say they would tell her to scream and try to get away. My response to them? That is resisting! Do you want her to get hurt even more? How come you know the best response for a 10 year old but not the best response for me?
July 24th, 2005 at 8:00 pm
that’s really f*cking interesting. thanks.
July 24th, 2005 at 9:08 pm
I looked into this topic in some detail several years ago. My opinion, based upon what I’d read at the time, was that it’s important to make a distinction between effective resistance and ineffective resistance.
Generally speaking, effective resistance is probably the safest alternative, cooperation is moderately risky, and ineffective resistance is most dangerous.
It’s also important to distinguish the quality of the threat, i.e. a mugger and a rapist are different things, and the price of cooperation is obviously higher in the later case than in the former.
For example, if you are physically small and facing a mugger, a fistfight is not going to end well for you. However, if you point a gun at him, you are probably going to come out OK. Cooperation might end with you getting hit, and it might not. It’s a toss-up.
If you are physically small and facing a rapist, any level of resistance is probably beneficial.
An important bottom line here is that unless you are large and fast, the word ‘effective’ pretty much translates as ‘armed with a gun’. No other weapon comes close.
And here’s an important tip – few people who are forced into vehicles are ever seen alive again. Even getting shot is preferable to getting into a vehicle with a bad guy – the odds of survival are greater. This is another time when any level of resistance is good. There is simply nothing to lose.
The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker is an excellent book on this topic and well worth the money. He’s no fan of guns, but outside of that, I was very impressed with what he had to say.