ABSTRACT
This chapter examines four separate meanings of violence seem to emerge: violence as compulsion and coercion; violence as extremes of feelings; violence as violation; and violence as perversion of meaning. Because so much violence goes unreported, measuring violence quantitatively is problematic. The fact that so much is hidden is a reminder that violence is often associated with secrecy and shame. The unusualness of interpersonal violence in terms of human behaviour should remind us of two things. First, that the majority of human beings do live together without violence and have the capacity to create constructive communities together. Second, that if interpersonal violence is an indicator of a derailed human interpersonal process, either at an individual or at large group level, then it has meaning for people and cannot be explained as blindly instinctual. The chapter focuses on the needs of victims in a way that has allowed the offenders to "escape".
