Biosocial Theories of Crime

Biosocial criminology is an emerging perspective that highlights the interdependence between genetic and environmental factors in the etiology of antisocial behaviors. However, given that biosocial criminology has only recently gained traction among criminologists, there has not been any attempt to compile some of the "classic" articles on this topic. Beaver and Walsh's edited volume addresses this gap in the literature by identifying some of the most influential biosocial criminological articles and including them in a single resource. The articles covered in this volume examine the connection between genetics and crime, evolutionary psychology and crime, and neuroscience and crime. This volume will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding the causes of crime from a biosocial criminological perspective.

Kevin M. Beaver is Assistant Professor, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, USA and Anthony Walsh is Professor of Criminal Justice, Boise State University, USA

Contents: Introduction; Part I Statements on the Biosocial Perspective: Biological perspectives in criminology, Diana H. Fishbein; Segregation and stratification: a biosocial perspective, Douglas S. Massey; Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent anti-social behaviour: a developmental taxonomy, Terrie E. Moffitt; Behavior genetics and anomie/strain theory, Anthony Walsh; H.J. Eysenck in Fagin's kitchen: the return to biological theory in 20th-century criminology, Nicole Hahn Rafter. Part II Genetics and Crime: Behavior genetics of aggression in children: review and future directions, Lisabeth Fisher DiLalla; The new look of behavioral genetics in developmental psychopathology: gene-environment interplay in antisocial behaviors, Terrie E. Moffitt; Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children, Avshalom Caspi, Joseph McClay, Terrie E Moffitt, Jonathan Mill, Judy Martin, Ian W. Craig, Alan Taylor and Richie Poulton; The integration of genetic propensities into social-control models of delinquency and violence among male youths, Guang Guo, Michael E. Roettger and Tianji Cai; The interaction between genetic risk and childhood sexual abuse in the prediction of adolescent violent behavior, Kevin M. Beaver; Sources of exposure to smoking and drinking friends among adolescents: a behavioral-genetic evaluation, H. Harrington Cleveland, Richard P. Wiebe and David C. Rowe. Part III Evolutionary Psychology and Crime: Gene-based evolutionary theories in criminology, Lee Ellis and Anthony Walsh; Self control, social control and evolutionary psychology: towards an integrated perspective on crime, Augustus Brannigan; A gene-based evolutionary explanation for the association between criminal involvement and number of sex partners, Kevin M. Beaver, John Paul Wright and Anthony Walsh; Women and crime: an evolutionary approach, Anne Campbell, Steven Muncer and Daniel Bibel; Why men commit crimes (and why they desist), Satoshi Kanazawa and Mary C. Still. Part IV Neuroscience and Crime: Neuroanatomical background to understanding the brain of the young psychopath, James H. Fallon; The roles of orbital frontal cortex in the modulation of antisocial behavior, R.J.R. Blair; A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking, Laurence Steinberg; Brain abnormalities in murderers indicated by positron emission tomography, Adrian Raine, Monte Buchsbaum and Lori LaCasse; Reduced prefrontal and increased subcortical brain functioning assessed using positron emission tomography in predatory and affective murderers, Adrian Raine, J. Reid Meloy, Susan Bihrle, Jackie Stoddard, Lori LaCasse and Monte Buchsbaum; Name Index.