Violence Involving Sailors: Approaches for Reducing the Rates of Violence
Abstract
Violence involving sailors is a problem that the Commander, THIRD fleet is committed to addressing. This study examined the relationship between sailor violence and location, time of year, policy directives, global tensions, and communication practices aimed at violence prevention. Results indicate that the reporting of violent incidents is often incomplete or inaccurate, which affects the Navy's ability to come to certain conclusions. However, the data suggest that sailors in pay grades from E3 to E5 are more likely to be involved in violent incidents than higher pay grades, and that alcohol is potentially a factor in at least half the incidents reported. In addition, communication on the topic by leaders does matter, and the context in which that communication takes place also matters. The authors applied a statistical technique to a set of recorded incidents of violence to identify other factors that correlate with violence. They found some degree of correlation between violence and operational/personnel tempo, phase of interdeployment cycle, and possibly the location of the homeport. However, they found very little correlation between violence and time of year, novel manning initiatives such as Sea Swap or Optimal Manning Experiment, and the time period before 9/11 and the time period after 9/11. Recommendations include developing common standards for reporting violent incidents, engaging in focused prevention measures, giving equal attention to both alcohol misuse and violence prevention, ensuring effective communication, empowering all leaders (E4 to O9) to address violence prevention, delivering training that reaches sailors, requiring units in high OPSTEMPO take additional precautions, requiring that units precede major phase changes with violence prevention messages, continuing holiday-related anti-violence messages, and monitoring new manning units (e.g., Sea Swap) for violence characteristics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA451293
Entities
People
- Cynthia L. King
- Gregory V. Cox
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School