Research Catalog

Title

Why they kill : the discoveries of a maverick criminologist / Richard Rhodes.

Author

Rhodes, Richard, 1937-

Publication

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 371 pages; 25 cm

Summary

Why do some men, women and even children assault, batter, rape, mutilate and murder? In his stunning new book, the Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Rhodes provides a startling and persuasive answer. Why They Kill explores the discoveries of a maverick American criminologist, Dr. Lonnie Athens -- himself the child of a violent family -- which challenge conventional theories about violent behavior. By interviewing violent criminals in prison, Dr. Athens has identified a pattern of social development common to all seriously violent people -- a four-stage process he calls "violentization": -- First, brutalization: A young person is forced by violence or the threat of violence to submit to an aggressive authority figure; he witnesses the violent subjugation of intimates, and the authority figure coaches him to use violence to settle disputes. -- Second, belligerency: The dispirited subject, determined to prevent his further violent subjugation, heeds his coach and resolves to resort to violence. -- Third, violent performances: His violent response to provocation succeeds, and he reads respect and fear in the eyes of others. -- Fourth, virulency: Exultant, he determines from now on to utilize serious violence as a means of dealing with people -- and he bonds with others who believe as he does. Since all four stages must be fully experienced in sequence and completed to produce a violent individual, we see how intervening to interrupt the process can prevent a tragic outcome. Rhodes supports Athens's theory with historical evidence and shows how it explains such violent careers as those of Perry Smith (the killer central to Truman Capote's narrativeIn Cold Blood), Mike Tyson, "preppy rapist" Alex Kelly, and Lee Harvey Oswald. Why They Killchallenges with devastating evidence the theory that violent behavior is impulsive, unconsciously motivated and predetermined. It offers compelling insights into the terrible, ongoing dilemma of criminal violence that plagues families, neighborhoods, cities and schools.

Subject

• Athens, Lonnie H
• Criminal psychology > Case studies
• Violent crimes > Case studies
• Criminal behavior > Methodology
• Psychologie criminelle > Études de cas
• Crimes violents > Études de cas
• Comportement criminel > Méthodologie
• Criminal behavior > Methodology
• Criminal psychology
• Violent crimes
• Violence > Case studies
• Human behavior > Methodology

Genre/Form

• Case studies
• Études de cas.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 343-350) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The Man Who Talks to Murderers -- Bring It On -- Thoughts Filled with Ghosts -- How the System Works -- The Full, Ugly Reality -- Taking the Attitude of the Other -- Beautiful Narrative -- Conscious Constructions -- Phantom Communities -- Academic Crackers and Cheese -- The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals (I) -- The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals (II) -- The Civilizing Process -- Cheryl Crane -- Alex Kelly, Perry Smith, Mike Tyson -- Lee Harvey Oswald -- Murders with Motives -- Monopolies of Violence -- The History of Childhood -- Primitive Violence -- The Self as a Soliloquy -- Dramatic Self-Change -- Universal Processes -- The Gates of Mercy Shut Up -- Strategies of Prevention and Control.

ISBN

• 0375402497
• 9780375402494

LCCN

99018920

OCLC

• 40830207
• SCSB-10373650

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library