It is a social malaise that has been worrying parents increasingly for some years now: the level of criminal activity and violence amongst the youth these days. The latter, in particular, if of alarming significance, as it has manifested into stabbings - often fatal - in the West. This kind of violence is even more necessary to examine considering that we live in an Islamic society where one of the basics of civility is communicating with one another. According to Dr. Mansour Bin Askar, a professor of Sociology at King Saud University, Riyadh, told Saudi Gazette that violence is a learned rather than instinctive behavior, affected largely by the environment. “Everything violent people learn is from the society,” he stated. “Violence in men is unlike violence in women because of their different respective natures; men like being physically violent while women prefer to hurt without causing bodily harm.” One disturbing aspect of this upsurge in youth violence is instances of fights within schools, something that has been growing steadily over the years. Waleed Marzooq is an intermediate student in a school in Jeddah and he told Saudi Gazette that most of the students within his school get into fights either as part of a group or by themselves, often for no significant reason. The rationale is that not fighting makes one come across as weak and therefor someone who nobody would ever defend. He claims that some teenagers have even taken to carrying some form of protection or weapon in the form of a small knife or stick, as has been happening in some parts of the United Kingdom and other Western countries. Hasan Hamdan is a secondary student in Jeddah and he admitted to Saudi Gazette that he has a large stick in his car. “Safety is very important for me. I could never think of hurting someone but I need to protect myself,” he remarked. This “knife culture” is very different in Saudi society as compared to other societies, stated Dr. Askar. “In the West, knives may be carried with the intention to use on something or someone as an act of vandalism, but here, they are carried for the purpose of fighting someone specifically or for revenge,” he explained. “For this reason, we must have increased levels of security all over the country to tackle this ‘youth violence' issue.” Understandably, it is also an alarming issue for parents who often can't understand where so much anger and violence come from in their children. Sabah Abdurrahman is one such mother, who told Saudi Gazette that she was shocked by her son's “savage” actions since she had never disciplined him too strictly or aggressively herself. One reason for this is social problems. “Domestic violence and divorces are causing frustration and grief amongst people, making them act cruelly,” explained Dr. Askar. “In particular, divorce is playing a huge role in making young people violent, especially if they are estranged from their mother,” remarked Hasan Al-Ghamdi, who works at an intermediate school in Jeddah. “Sometimes single fathers find it difficult to discipline their sons.” Another major reason is the sheer abundance of violence shown in movies and video games which encourages young minds to indulge in such activity themselves. A much rarer, though far more disturbing reason is drugs. There seems to be a direct connection between crime and drugs. “Drug addiction behavior is unconsciously implemented so one may attack, beat, rape or kill without thinking,” claimed Dr. Askar. Most commonly, however, violence stems from lifestyle and societal changes where people don't have any strong ties to anything or anyone. In the past, Dr. Askar said, people were fearful that doing something bad would result in rebukes and punishment by the family, tribe or community. That kind of support system is lacking these days but many specialists think that a number of support centers like mosques, schools and households can spread awareness about the downfalls of violence early on in a child's life.
