Reconsidering Violence: A Response to Twinley and Addidle (2012) and Morris (2012)

Abstract

This opinion piece aims to further the discussion of violence that Twinley and Addidle (2012) and Morris (2012) have initiated. Using occupational therapy, occupational science and criminological literature, it is argued that violence itself is not an occupation but, rather, an instrument of certain occupations, such as crime. Investigation of the situations in which violent occupations become ‘occupational possibilities’ is advocated, with the suggestion that practitioners and scholars must direct their attention to both perpetrators and victims of violent occupations. It is further argued that a better understanding of violent occupations will more adequately frame occupational repertoires in disadvantaged communities.