Vol. 4, No. 3, 1998 Page 6


STRAIGHT TALK.... ABOUT THE ROOTS OF VIOLENCE AND CRIME

"There is little doubt that social and psychological factors contribute to the development of crime, and there is an extensive body of research established in those areas. Could there also be, however, a biologic risk for wickedness, whereby an individual is biologically predisposed to engage in serious repeat criminal offenses? There is a growing body of literature to suggest that this may be the case. In other words, biological individual differences may be a predisposition to crime."
Angela Scarpa and Adrian Raine,
"Biology of wickedness,"
in Psychiatric Annals,
September 1997

"I remember getting a call from the assistant medical examiner who was working on the case. `I have one question for you,' he said. `If Huberty had this much cadmium in his body, why wasn't he dead?'"
Researcher William J. Walsh,
commenting in Popular Mechanics,
April, 1998, on hair samples from
mass killer James Huberty
showing that Huberty's body contained massive levels of the
brain toxin cadmium

"The autonomic nervous system of intensely violent people is intensely sluggish.... They need a higher level of thrill or stimulation in order to have an intense experience."
Forensic psychologist
Shawn A. Johnston, cited in the San
Diego Union Tribune, May 31, 1998

"It is axiomatic that problems cannot be solved unless we understand them. Crime is a moral issue, but that does not mean to say that we should not look for the causes of criminal behavior in the hope of finding ways to alleviate it....
"If we wish to reduce crime, and aspects of personality, including crime-susceptible personality, are genetically influenced, it is imperative that science be permitted-or, more positively, actively encouraged-to inquire into this matter."
James K. Hughes, "Genetic factors
influence criminal behavior,"
in Crime and Criminals: Opposing
Viewpoints, 1995

"Another horrific act of violence involving children has rocked the country; in only five months this is the fourth deadly shooting of school children by other children...
What is missing [in our attempt to understand these acts] is some kind of medical and scientific assessment of these children- a specially appointed panel of experts in a variety of fields, perhaps. Not criminologists and DAs, but specialists in child development, environmental medicine, nutritional status, etc. The evidence for environmental causes is monumental."
Irene Alleger, Editor
Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients
June 1998

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