A Justice Site
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: March 16, 2001
Latest update: March 16, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org
Essay: Sharing Our Justice Studies with Youth in the Community Discussion Questions
Biology and Violence
Review and Teaching Essay by Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata
Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata, March 2001. "Fair Use" encouraged.This essay is based on:
- Violent societies make violent children Book review by Erin Driscoll in Law Society Journal (NSW, Australia), October 1997, page 95. Cite as (1997) 35 (9) LSJ 95 .
- The Biology of Violence An interview with Debra Niehoff.
- Brain Systems and Behavior Brief review of biologic influences on violence by psychiatrist, Daniel Amen, who was interviewed on Saturday, March 10, 2001, on CNN, about his perspective on the Santee shooting. Dr. Amen emphasized that biologic factors must be considered interdependently with individual and social context factors. Dr. Amen's vita. Dr. Amen has a clinic in Newport Beach, which probably explains why he was included on the CNN broadcast. Note the connection to Attention Deficit Disorder.
- The toxic mind: the biology of mental illness and violence
Discussion Questions
- Barbara Niehoff says in an an interview that violence, like all complex human behaviors, is the result of a developmental process, a lifelong interaction between the brain and the environment." Does that agree with the perspective stated in Erin Driscoll's review of Violent societies make violent children?
jeanne's lecture notes on one plausible answer: Yes. Both writers are reminding us that violence is complex, and that no single factor is predictive of sudden violent outbursts, such as we have witnessed in school shootings.
- Skim The toxic mind: the biology of mental illness and violence Does Dr. Van Winkle, discussing violence, recognize the complexity of violence and the interdependence of physiology and the structural context?
jeanne's lecture notes on one plausible answer: I think that phrases like the following "recovery from nervous and mental disease is a detoxification process and can be facilitated by therapy and self-help measures that involve the releasing and redirecting of repressed emotions." suggest that he does. So regardless of which discipline from which we approach the issue of violence, there is general agreement that there is no single predictor.