Why They KillRichard Rhodes (Knopf, 1999)
Most people believe the biblical saying: We reap what we sow. So
since the United States has more violent criminals in prison and on the
street than any other industrialized country, we have to wonder: What are
we doing wrong? Richard Rhodes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, tries to
answer this question in Why They Kill (Knopf, 1999).
In this 350-page book, Rhodes relies on the research of a
little-known Seton Hall University criminologist, Lonnie Athens. Athens
eschews the statistical analysis of traditional criminology, which holds
that violence is more common in certain races or income brackets, but
which fails to explain why some people turn savage while others do not.
So Athens talked at length with violent criminals to find common
experiences that would unearth the root of the behavior.
People become violent, Athens concluded, through a long, slow
process he calls violentization, an awkward term that means simply that
people learn to be violent. Violentization includes four kinds of
experiences: brutalization, subjugation, violent coaching and criminal
activity To become violent, according to this theory, a person must be
the victim of repeated violence, be powerless to avoid it, be taught by
models and through instruction how and when to be violent, and profit
from brutal acts. In other words, their world teaches them to be
violent.
Then why do some people from violent worlds turn out well? Because
in those cases, Athens reasons, some part of the violentization process
is missing. Victims of child abuse are brutalized, for example, but they
may not undergo violent coaching.
Rhodes characterizes Athens as an original theorist, but if he
seems original, it is partly because Rhodes (and presumably Athens)
ignores related research by psychologists. There is no mention, for
example, of "Adolescent Aggression," the classic study by psychologist
Albert Bandura and anthropologist Richard Walters, which, like Athens'
work, was based on interviews and clearly showed that violent behavior is
learned. There is no mention of the famous experiment by psychologist
Philip Zimbardo in which ordinary college students who played the part of
"guards" became so abusive toward student "prisoners" that Zimbardo had
to terminate the experiment. Athens' work may be very different from
traditional thinking in criminology and psychiatry, but it will hardly
surprise anyone familiar with research in child development or social
psychology.
This is not to say that Athens has contributed nothing. His case
studies provide a rich demonstration of the violentization process. And
his work may lead us, at long last, to take effective steps toward
preventing violence. If homes and neighborhoods teach violence, he
argues, then our schools must teach civility Children who are disruptive
shouldn't be expelled from school--to the street, where their violent
education often continues--but offered special help in learning to
interact with others. If their own private world is dangerous, Athens
suggests, the least we can do is provide children with a public world
that is safe.
Rhodes makes clear that this is easier said than done. Yet who can
disagree with his conclusion that "to tolerate the brutalization of
children--as we continue to do--- is evil, and we reap what we
sow."
Adapted by Ph.D.
Paul Chance is editor of "Beyond the Data,' a column on the Web
site of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies (behavior.
org).
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