Editor’s Introduction: Violence, Victimization and Prevention

Violence is a complex, multifaceted, and multi-determined phenomenon (Dahlberg and Krug 2006) that victimizes the lives of many children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly on a daily basis. Violence and victimization permeate various cultures and systems—including in individual, family, school, and social contexts—as well as subsystems such as conjugal, parental, peer, and dating relationships (WHO 2014), and these are present both offline and online (Caridade and Dinis 2020a). These phenomena impact numerous areas, including physical and mental health, criminal justice, and social welfare, potentially hindering social development (WHO 2014; Seth and Peshevska 2014). Experiencing violence is a significant risk factor for developing social and health-related problems throughout one’s life (Rossi and Talevi 2017). Therefore, there are continuous efforts made to achieve an understanding of how various forms of violence manifest, with the aim of identifying their causes and risk factors in order to inform prevention and intervention policies (Caridade and Dinis 2020b; Hamby 2017).

This Special Issue aims to address violence as a serious public health issue that entails various new forms of victimization, spurred by contemporary societies. This Special Issue brings together fourteen studies, based on different methodological approaches, that explore the multifaceted dimensions of violence, its impact across various contexts, and innovative approaches to its prevention. In this editorial, we aim to summarize the essence and main conclusions of the research included in this Special Issue, offering a glimpse into cutting-edge research that significantly contributes to our understanding and mitigation of violence in society.

This Special Issue includes four literature reviews that expand knowledge on violence across several domains: a bibliometric review on dating violence (Martínez-Heredia et al. 2021), two scoping reviews on cyber interpersonal violence (Machado et al. 2022; Villalonga-Aragón et al. 2023), and a systematic review on cybersecurity within organizations (Sulaiman et al. 2022). These reviews underline the escalating research focus and the critical need for targeted preventive measures against both traditional and emerging forms of violence.

Additionally, this Special Issue addresses specific vulnerable groups, such as adolescents and university students, through studies such as Martínez-González et al.’s (2021) analysis of peer coercion and Recal-Esnoz et al.’s (2021) development of a scale measuring the acceptance of rape myths. Another qualitative study (Mapayi et al. 2023) focuses on the experiences of sexual harassment survivors in Nigerian universities, highlighting the urgent need for enhanced institutional support.

Research exploring the broader societal implications of violence includes Caridade et al.’s (2022) examination of crime fears in Porto, Portugal, and Ferrás et al.’s (2023) study on the territorial distribution of gender-based violence against elderly women in Galicia, Spain. These studies contribute to our understanding of how environmental and social factors influence perceptions of safety and the distribution of violence.

Emphasizing the importance of social inclusion, Ahmad (2023) explore how ethnic minority women navigate autonomy within honor-related contexts. Additional articles focus on the Colombian context, with Banquez-Mendoza et al. (2022) reconstructing the historical memory of armed conflict in the Montes de María and with Bustos and Manrique-Hernandez (2024) analyzing economic causes of conflict recidivism post-FARC peace accord.

This Special Issue concludes with studies on community violence responses (Gebo and Franklin 2023) and the intersection of poverty and violence against women in Palmira, Colombia (Quiñones et al. 2020), advocating for comprehensive strategies to address and prevent violence.

Together, these contributions not only advance our theoretical and empirical knowledge but also underline the urgent need for a comprehensive approach to combat violence across different contexts and populations. Through the described array of articles addressing violence, this Special Issue endeavors to pave the way for future research and policy-making efforts, aiming to foster safer, more inclusive societies.