Why do most murders take place within the family?
Most murders take place within the family because that is where affiliations are closest, where feelings are generated quickest, and where passions and emotions most easily get the best of people. This proximity and intensity of relationship creates the environment where deadly violence most often erupts.
Les explains that statistically most murders occur within the family because that is where all the affiliations are the closest. It is also where feelings are generated the quickest, so consequently it is among those environments that our passions and emotions seem to get the best of us. He illustrates this with the biblical example of Amalek, who descended from Eliphaz and Timnah, and whose descendants, the Amalekites, became arch enemies of Israel. The Amalekites were the first nation to fight Israel after they came out of Egypt under Moses. Thus, close family ties can turn into intense hostility, showing how family relations can produce deadly conflict.