A stable society also has a number of deterrents to violence, including a stable family, the community, and other formal social structures. These include health care systems, religious organizations, educational systems, governmental systems, and legal systems. Failure in any of these areas can increase the risk of violence. The abysmal failure of managed care to provide adequate mental health care for severely disturbed youths has been a major problem in recent years. A technology exits to prevent many forms of violence, but there are many barriers which prevent access to and implementation of this higher level capability.
Some violence shows elements of both.
Defensive aggression is more easily understood. It occurs in response to a perception of threat. The vicious cycle of aggressive counter provocation accelerates the level of hostility and magnifies the violent potential. In contrast, predatory aggression such as, serial killing, mass murders, spree killings, and sexual sadistic murders, are more predatory, and more difficult to understand. Humans are controlled predators by nature.