The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior as a Clinical Disorder [Hardcover]

Adrain Raine (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0125761600 | ISBN-13: 978-0125761604 | Publication Date: October 15, 1993 | Edition: 1

This book takes an uncompromising look at how we define psychopathology and makes the argument that criminal behavior can and perhaps should be considered a disorder. Presenting sociological, genetic, neurochemical, brain-imaging, and psychophysiological evidence, it discusses the basis for criminal behavior and suggests, contrary to popular belief, that such behavior may be more biologically determined than previously thought.

Key Features
* Presents a new conceptual approach to understanding crime as a disorder
* Is the most extensive review of biological predispositions to criminal behavior to date
* Analyzes the familial and extra-familial causes of crime
* Reviews the predispositions to crime including evolution and genetics, and the neuropsychological, psychophysiological, brain-imaging, neurochemical, and cognitive factors
* Presents the practical implications of viewing crime as a psychopathology in the contexts of free will, punishment, treatment, and future biosocial research

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Prepublication Reviews
"This is an extremely informative, thoughtful and illuminating book that should be read by every open-minded scholar who is interested in the causes of crime and antisocial behaviour...the whole book is a tour de force in its masterly reviews of the literature on biology and crime."
--David P. Farrington in PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
"Raine's book presents an exemplary summary of the available evidence on all the risk factors for criminality that have been studied along more or less scientific lines, both biological and environmental. His scholarship is impeccable; he relies throughout on experimental (or at least empirical) evidence, is able to assess its evidential and probative value, and threads his way carefully through the forest of overlapping categories--criminal and psychopathic, schizotypal personality, etc. He is careful to introduce biological terms and constructs before discussing their relation to crime, and always gives both sides of any controversy that has arisen. The book sets a standard that will be difficult to surpass... It is clear that there must exist neurochemical, hormonal, psychophysiological, and other biological structures and functions acting as intermediaries between DNA and criminal behavior. It is in discussion of these factors, which makes up the major part of the book, that Raine shines; it is here that his expertise is most manifest... The book can be safely recommended as an excellent summary of the known facts in this tantalizing field... The book is outstandingly successful."
--H.J. EYSENCK, University of London in CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY
"I enjoyed reading the book and learned much from it. To my knowledge there is nothing like it available. It exhaustively reviews the recent literature on the psychological and physiological characteristics of serious criminal offenders. Raine brilliantly compresses a huge, complex, unwieldy, and occasionally unclear body of data from many disciplines into a surprisingly accessible account of the traits that dispose some people to become offenders."
--RICHARD J. HERRNSTEIN, Harvard University Department of Psychology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
"During my 20 years of researching and writing on criminal behavior, I have yet to find a summary on the biological foundations of crime as comprehensive, balanced, and accurate as this one. The book is truly worth having on this basis alone. Moreover, the reference list is extensive... and very up-to-date, allowing the reader to quickly identify cutting edge research in the field...Psychopathology of Crime is extremely well written in a pithy, scholarly style. The book is permeated with tables and figures that are thoughtfully laid out and add greatly to the content. It is a book that will be frequently cited in the biological approaches to criminal behavior and is a must for anyone interested in understanding the causes of crime."
--CURT R. BARTOL in JOURNAL OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASE

Product Details

• Hardcover: 377 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 1 edition (October 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0125761600
• ISBN-13: 978-0125761604
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,992,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Extremely Astute and Excellent Book, July 3, 2000

By 

Mark K. Mcdonough "Mark McDonough" (Reston, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior as a Clinical Disorder (Hardcover)

This book serves two purposes. It is an excellent literature review of research into the biological, neurochemical, genetic, and behavioral roots of violence and criminality. It also advances a provocative hypothesis -- that criminality itself may meet the definition of a psychopathology.

Even if you regard the latter as completely bunk (which I don't), the book is invaluable as a literature review. Not only is it exhaustive, but Raine also comments on the literature with a keen logical mind, i.e. "Hungadunga and McCormick found effect X and attributed it to factor Y, but an alternative explanation is provided by factor Z."

I am a science writer, and my main field of expertise is the medical aspects substance abuse treatment. I learned plenty of new stuff about the connections between alcoholism and criminal behavior in this book and will consult it repeatedly the next time my partner and I sit down to write/revise.

Quibbles? Well, to some degree, the literature review works at cross-purposes with his central hypothesis, since most of the resarch he reviews was not undertaken with such a hypothesis in mind and doesn't necessarily apply to it. Also, you do have to pay close attention re: whether Raine is, at any given point, talking about criminality in general, violent criminality in particular, or ASP (antisocial personality) specifically. Structurally, it might have made more sense to write two books: a critical review of the literature, and a second one advancing the thesis that criminality is a psychopathogy. I've faced similar dilemmas in my own writing, and I probably would have made the same decision Raine did -- cram it all in one book!

Bottom line: if you're interested enough in this subject to have read to the bottom of this review, you need to buy this book.