Veganism Can Curb Violent, Aggressive Behaviors

''The findings indicate that slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes, arrests for rape, and arrests for other sex offenses in comparison with other industries. This suggests the existence of a “Sinclair effect” unique to the violent workplace of the slaughterhouse, a factor that has not previously been examined in the sociology of violence.''

by Michael Corthell

Violence breeds violence: The devaluation of any life, diminishes the value of all life.

A prison in Victor Valley, California instituted a program they called NewStart. Inmates had a choice of either standard food and go through the normal prison program or start a vegan diet with some Bible study and anger management classes.

The main reason for starting this program was, as stated by the nutrition services co-ordinator of the prison, ''what we eat affects not only our bodies physically, but also our mental attitude, our levels of aggression and our ability to make good decisions.''

State officials were skeptical about how many prisoners would actually choose the vegan meal plan, but 85% ended up choosing the program.

What were the results?

It seems that violence decreased significantly among the inmates choose the NewStart plan.

Take a look:

''The remarkable behavioral changes could even be seen outside in the prison yard where according to prison officials, nobody “owned” or controlled the yard. Typical lines drawn between blacks, whites, Hispanics, gang members and other groups were non-existent. On the NEWSTART side, everyone played basketball together and had great fellowship. The CDC [standard prison program] side of the house had the same racial divisions experienced at any other prison.''

Not only that, but the recidivism rate for the inmates once released was 2%, when the average for California is 90%.

The anger management classes and bible study certainly contributed to these results, but it shows that more veganism would mean far less violence in the world.

Could more people on a vegan diet even help to eradicate racism (and racist violence) as it did in the prison? And if it did this, could it also help end sexism and abuse of women? Many believe that it could.

What about domestic violence and violent crime in the community?

This study from the universities of Windsor and Michigan State found that in locations surrounding slaughterhouses, there are clusters of domestic violence incidences and violent crimes among the workers and their communities that occur because violence of the work in the slaughterhouse:

''The findings indicate that slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes, arrests for rape, and arrests for other sex offenses in comparison with other industries. This suggests the existence of a “Sinclair effect” unique to the violent workplace of the slaughterhouse, a factor that has not previously been examined in the sociology of violence.''

This study, by the way, was to see if there was indeed a connection between violence towards animals in the slaughterhouse and crime and violence in the neighborhood. this theory was masterfully explored by Upton Sinclair in his novel ''The Jungle'' about a large Chicago slaughterhouse.

It take very little imagination to see that if someone is desensitizing themselves to the brutality they are inflicting on sentient beings all day long, that when they leave the workplace this desensitization and lack of empathy is still in place and would affect every relationship outside of it. The devaluation of any life, diminishes the value of all life.

An Australian study that was carried out. It came to the same conclusion; that slaughter house employees were more likely to be violent.

Senior sociology lecturer Dr. Nik Taylor at Flinders University said it had been established that the more positive a person’s attitude to animals, the lower their aggression levels, and that the reverse is also true – if you're cruel to animals, you're more likely to be violent to humans. She also found that metalworkers' aggression levels were ''so high they’re similar to the scores… for incarcerated populations''.

What is Carnism?

Carnism is the invisible belief system, or ideology, that conditions people to eat certain animals. Carnism is essentially the opposite of veganism, as ''carn'' means ''flesh'' or ''of the flesh'' and ''ism'' refers to a belief system.

Because carnism is invisible, people rarely realize that eating animals is a choice, rather than a given. In meat-eating cultures around the world, people typically don’t think about why they eat certain animals but not others, or why they eat any animals at all. But when eating animals is not a necessity, which is the case for many people in the world today, then it is a choice – and choices always stem from beliefs. 

As long as we remain unaware of how carnism impacts us, we will be unable to make our food choices freely – because without awareness, there is no free choice.