In recent years, research aimed at trying to better understand and control aggression has gone beyond the study of perpetrators and victims to examine the locations in which aggression occurs. Where are crimes committed? Do different locations present different opportunities for aggression and even different outcomes?
Home is one of America's favorite hitting places. It is an opportune ground for small slights and major insults, where grudges can quietly smolder and violently flare, a private arena in which a self-appointed family dictator may take command, a tavern of sorts in which excessive drinking and lowered restraint can see a stage for violence, and a sheltered island in which aggression can let loose with little fear of punishment. It is also a physical structure and space often jointly occupied by potential aggressors and (literally) near-at-hand targets.
Given all these aggression-promoting qualities, it is no wonder that more than seventy eight percent of the homicides in which offender and victim were from the same family take place at home.
