Vol. 1, No. 1-2 , 1995, Page 2 
|
Vol. 1, No. 1-2 , 1995, Page 2 |
"Here are people in whom the components of mind that make human beings moral beings,
civilized beings-conscience, a moral sense, recognition of right and wrong, constraints that stop
us from injuring others-literally appear to be lacking. What could be the cause of this troubling
and troublesome disorder?
"Though our reactions of horror and fear when we encounter individuals with
psychopathic personality disorder are justified, we have been wrong in assuming that the condition
exists independent of biology. Neuroscience is confirming that Maudsley was correct when he.
contended a century ago that, `Assuredly, moral insanity is a disorder of mind produced by
disorder of brain.'"
Richard M. Restak, M.D.
author, The Mind
"Violence is a public health issue in the United States."
Rev. Jesse Jackson
quoted in Public Citizen,
March/April 1994
"Regarding violence in our society as purely a sociologic matter or one of law enforcement, has led
to unmitigated failure. It is time to test further whether violence can be amenable to medical/public
health interventions."
C. Everett Koop,
former Surgeon General
"Research in the past 10 years conclusively demonstrates that biological factors play some role in
the etiology of violence. That is scientifically beyond doubt."
Psychologist Adrian Raine
quoted in
Scientific American, March 1995
"Recent trends in crime and criminal justice policy responses have resulted in the near-tripling of
prison populations between 1975and 1989-with no apparent decrease in levels of violent crime.
This strongly suggests that other factors that tend to increase violent crime levels-some of which
can be changed by governments or individuals-are at work."
National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences
Understanding and Preventing Violence, 1993
"What we need is a modern crime-prevention model, one that uses science to determine the causes
of criminal activity-including the chemical, psychological, dietary and environmental causes-
and employs public-health techniques to wipe them out. In short, if crime is a cancer, let's treat it
as such."
Ray Jeffery, Professor of Criminology
Florida State University
quoted in the
Tallahassee Democrat, July 12, 1992
"We view people who are violent in the same way we used to view people who were mentally ill. In
the old days, schizophrenics, manic-depressives and others were thought to be bad people who had
to be punished.
"When we reconceptualize violence as involving the brain, then we are really going to start
making progress. The brain is left out of the whole paradigm in the criminal justice system. We got
nowhere punishing mentally ill people and we're getting nowhere with our population of criminals.
We're just building more prisons."
Dr. Stuart Yudofsky
Chairman, Department of Psychiatry
Baylor College of Medicine
quoted in the Chicago Tribune,
December 12, 1993
"...While jails and prisons still incapacitate, incarcerate and punish, they no longer-if they ever
did-deter crime."
Jill Smolowe,
Time Magazine,
February 7, 1994