Violent crimes on the rise within the family

Yomna Kamel Middle East Times Staff


A man murders his brother in a fight over land they inherited from their father. A young college student stabs his mother to death because she refused to give him money to buy drugs. Dozens of cases of crimes like these that take place within the family are reported weekly which raises the question: why are these kinds of crimes on the rise?

About 65 murders or attempted murders took place in Giza over the past three months. Twelve of them were matricides. Imbaba, a poor area of Giza, has the highest rate of family crime, Rose Al Youssef magazine reported on August 28.

"The picture is not that dark, but it is alarming. There are many broken families and we should think about the causes," says Sawsan Osman, professor of community organization at the Higher School of Social Work, and board-director of the Egyptian Society for Family Support.

Osman says that the family is a "God given organization" where both men and women make sacrifices for the sake of their children. Egyptian families are exposed to external and internal factors weakening their structure and causing the staggering increase in family crimes.

In the 20th century, the family has changed due to concepts of 'absolute freedom' and individualism prevailing in many Western societies.

"When turning sixteen or seventeen, children leave their families and independently live away from their parents. This has negative implications for family relations. Currently, countries experiencing difficult social problems are working towards strengthening family relations and explaining its importance as the ideal social unit," she says.

According to Osman, Egyptian society has been exposed to a kind of 'cultural intrusion' where new socio-economic values have been absorbed. A wave of movies and programs, full of sex and violence, have reached Egyptian families at home with the spread of satellite television.

Sociologists think that the Egyptian family has been adversely affected by this wave. They trace the increase in crime rates to such cultural influences transmitted by the international media.

"The American television series 'The Bold and the Beautiful' is a clear example of the weird values that are brought into our societies by the media," she says. "Family principles are not there anymore; two brothers are fighting over a girl and a woman gets pregnant by her husband's father?" she asks noting that youth are affected by such values.

Regarding internal variables that have impacted on Egyptian society, she notes Egypt's experience with a failed socialist economic system and then a subsequent move to a free market economy. This situation helped to generate several economic problems that people suffer from which have a deep impact on familial relations.

Housing shortages and unemployment are among the problems that cause stress within families. Most young men cannot afford marriage expenses and a house to live in and their parents cannot help.

"Under such social and economic stress, a young person might be driven to kill their parents in order to take possession of their house. Some have kicked their fathers and mothers out of the house when the parents got old," she says.

She goes on to suggest that notions of individualism and self-interest, which became prevalent in Egypt due to outside cultural influences, are among the causes of these incidents. These values have become more important than traditional family ties, she explains.

The rate of family crime is higher poor areas like Imbaba. Difficult socio- economic conditions have been cited as factors contributing to the prevalence of crime in this area.

"Drug addiction, definitely, is the major cause of family crimes. The need for drugs might push a man to murder his father, mother or brother and steal their money," Osman explains.

In agreement with Osman, Hussein Abdel Qader, editor of the accidents and crime page in the semi-official Akhbar Al Youm, says family values are deteriorating and religious principles are not respected. Moral deviation therefore is the expected outcome.

"Many young people are into drugs and (obtaining money for drugs) is one of the major motives for committing crimes. Among the crimes reported recently by Akhbar Al Youm was a father murdering his drug addicted son who stole from his father to pay for his fixes. The father said he murdered his son because he was bringing troubles to the family," says Abdel Qader.