In addition to learning specific information regarding the prediction of violence, the serious student of human violence should have a broad based, interdisciplinary exposure to violence. Recommended books on general violence, violence prediction and risk analysis, intervention/treatment, as well as books of the Pacific Institute are presented below.

General Violence: Theory, Practice, and Investigation

1. Whitaker, L.C. (2000). Understanding and Preventing Violence: The Psychology of Human Destructiveness. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. This book addresses the search for answers to a vast fundamental dilemma that has only increased on severity over the millennia. Civilization purportedly serves to make human life safer and to enhance life by inhibiting the "animal instincts" to violence, selfish aggrandizement and unrestricted sexual expression; yet the more we become civilized, the greater the rate at which humans destroy one another, whether for the sake of domination, material gain, or notoriety. This book is a search for alternatives, including those that may have virtually instant appeal. Conducting the search means elucidating the causes of direct lethal violence and those activities that promote lethal violence albeit indirectly. Along the way, the universal fear of death, the population dilemma and the causes of destructive versus constructive behavior, particularly in terms of their associated mentalities, are taken into account.
   
   
2. Schwartz, L., & Isser, N. (2000). Endangered Children: Neonaticide, Infanticide, and Filicide. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. This well-researched and easy to read book provides sociobiological, historical and literary perspectives on neonaticide, infanticide and filicide, and seeks to answer the many questions that arise from these crimes. The authors examine the mothers themselves in terms of background and motives; the role, if any, of mental illness; the response of the legal system in terms of charges and penalties; and future directions in terms of preventive measures. Chapters include a review of British and U.S. laws vis-à-vis punishment, infanticide by parents and their surrogates, teaching abstinence and prevention versus sex education, new welfare laws, and interventions such as school programs and the revival of adoption.
   
   
3. Hall, H.V., & Whitaker, L.C. (Eds.) (1999). Collective Violence: Effective Strategies for Assessing and Intervening in Fatal Group and Institutional Aggression. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. This edited volume explores the variety of groups explicitly committed to destructive aggression from an intervention perspective. Topics addressed include population groups which pursue their own specialized forms of violence against others: polluting themes which desensitize citizens and societal institutions to deadly force and preparations for catastrophic violence, and the role of our scientific establishment and the media in promoting culture-wide themes that justify, legalize and reify violence. This book consists of authoritative contributions from professional and academic experts in the field of violence and aggression and details evaluation and intervention strategies for violence sponsored by the state or by groups against individuals.
   
   
4. Hall. H.V., & Sbordone, R.J. (Eds.) (1993). Disorders of Executive Functions: Civil and Criminal Law Applications. Winter Park, FL: PMD Publishers Group, Inc. The repetitive theme of this edited book is that of ecological validity that emphasizes the role of the forensic neuropsychologist in offering opinions about executive functioning in the real world. The contributors address ways to integrate multiple sources of information–well beyond utilizing only test data–in formulating defensible conclusions that the trier-of-fact will find credible. Psychologists and neuropsychologists interested in enhancing their own executive capabilities when entering the forensic arena will benefit from this book. Chapters include civil forensic neuropsychology, criminal-forensic neuropsychology, neurolinguistic aspects of frontal lobe deficits, epileptic-related executive dysfunction and integrating neuroimaging and neurobehavioral data in forensic settings and situations.
   
   
5. Hall, H.V. (Ed.) (1996). Lethal Violence: A Sourcebook on Fatal Domestic, Acquaintance and Stranger Violence. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Outstanding experts on violence apply the lethal violence sequence analysis to a wide-ranging array of fatal aggression, resulting in a multitude of observations and principles of violence. This book presents evaluation and intervention strategies for violence against individuals and provides the latest databases on lethal violence. This book contains almost 100 pages of references.
   
   
6. Archer, D., & Gartner, R. (1984). Violence and Crime in Cross-National Perspective. New Haven: Yale University Press. This book provides a cross-national, quantitative comparison of violence and relates the findings to critical questions such as : (1) Does the level of domestic violence in a society increase after that nation has participated in a war? For most nations, the answer is a strong "yes"); (2) Does the death penalty deter violence and crime? (For almost everywhere, the answer is "no;" in fact, the death penalty may even indirectly increase violence); (3) Do large cities have unusually high homicide rates? (The answer depends on the size of the city relative to the overall homicide rate of the country).
   
   
7. Baron R.A., & Richardson, D.R. (1994). Human Aggression (2nd ed.). New York: Plenum Press. This second edition of a comprehensive popular book covers virtually all aspects of human aggression. Updated discussions are presented on the development of aggressive behavior, biological bases of human violence, and aggression in natural settings. A very strong point is the continued examination of theoretical frameworks and lines of empirical investigation from the earlier (1977) edition. As a result, more than 25% of the references refer to articles and books from 1987 or later.
   
   
8. Geberth, V.G. (1996). Practical Homicide Investigation: Tactics, Procedures, and Forensic Techniques (3rd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. This classic book provides a good introduction for law enforcement and for mental health professionals interested in learning the basic "nuts and bolts" of investigating violence to others, as well as advanced methods of police science. In particular, the book provides valuable insights on the context of violence, the victims, the perpetrators and other parties at the scene. The book is not for the squeamish as it contains explicit scenes from torture murders and other heinous crimes.
   
   
9. Kull, S. (1982). Minds at War: Nuclear Reality and the Inner Conflicts of Defense Policymakers. New York: Basic Books. In what should be mandatory reading for everyone interested in institutional violence, this work provides a glimpse of how those in power process information about nuclear war. In interviewing high-ranking statesmen, military leaders, and policymakers about nuclear war with the former USSR, Kull deliberately withheld the fact that he had been a practicing psychotherapist for years before he undertook the project as a Fellow in political science at Stanford University. His results were startling. Among other findings, he determined that those in power believed nuclear war to be inevitable. Further, most of what is done in terms of nuclear strategy is motivated by political perceptions in order to satisfy the citizens and influence other countries. In spite of the collapse of the Soviet Union and recent moves toward disarmament, his results remain relevant today.
   
   
10. Kutash, I.L., Kutash, S.B., & Schlesinger, L.B. & Associates (Eds.) (1978). Violence: Perspectives on Murder and Aggression. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. In this classic edited work, theories and classification systems of murder and other violence that encompass most prevailing schools of thought are examined. A positive feature is that murder is dealt with separately. In the second part of the book, the different types of murder are examined in light of the most recent research findings of the time. The concept of the "catathymic crisis," an archaic concept in forensics, is resurrected and given new meaning and relevance. The final section deals with the disposition, treatment and prevention of violence.
    
    
11. Milner, J.S. (1991). Neuropsychology of Aggression. Boston: Kluwer. There have been few works written that deal directly with the neuropsychology of aggression. Dr. Milner's book provides the reader with an in-depth appraisal of cognitive deficits and neuropsychological conditions related to aggression. Particular emphasis is placed upon conditions affecting limbic and frontal lobe functioning and their relationship to aggression and violence.
    
    
12. Richardson, L. (1960). Statistics of Deadly Quarrels. Pacific Grove, CA: The Boxwood Press. Richardson's contribution to our understanding of lethal violence is enormous. First, he constructed a list of 300 wars, from 1820 to 1949, with precise statements of the causes, the conditions, and the approximate number of war dead. Second, Richardson applied statistical methods to extract highly probable conclusions from the data. Last, and most important, are the conclusions he offered. The Richardson Curve is well known today. Basically, it states that wars of increasing magnitude are occurring with greater frequency. (Before his death, Carl Sagan, in Cosmos (1980), modified the Richardson curve in light of events of which Richardson had no knowledge, for example, the proliferation of nuclear weapons by diverse groups and countries. Dr. Sagan concluded that global nuclear war could occur in the near future.)
    
    
13. Rummel, R.J. (1994). Death by Government. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. In his fourth book on genocide and government mass murder (what the author calls "democide"), Rummel presents a historical overview on genocide and offers detailed tables for offender nations in this century. He shows that more people are killed by their own governments than in war. The primary conclusion that emerged was that the less freedom and control exercised at a grass roots level by the citizens, the more likely it is that genocide would occur. Rummel found that democratic societies tended to be nonviolent, a finding that also applied to previously totalitarian governments which turned democratic. War and genocide were found to be part of the same social process where power and control reign supreme.
    
    
14. Straus, M.A., & Gelles, R.J. (1990). Physical Violence in American Families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. These prolific scholars bring integrity and balance to their research and interpretations. Here, they continue to analyze the voluminous data generated by their second survey of 1985, in which they interviewed 6,002 families. While they did not study homicides, their survey acts as a valuable reference to the seed-bed of domestic violence from which homicide springs.
    
    
15. Wolfgang, M. (1958). Patterns in Criminal Homicide. London: University of Oxford Press. Because of its primacy and thoroughness, this classic work should be required reading for homicide investigators. This large study provides not only a comprehensive picture of homicidal violence, in Philadelphia in the late 1940s and 1950s, but represents a thoughtful examination of all of the players in the homicide drama.

Violence Prediction and Risk Assessment

1. Hall, H.V., & Poirier, J. (2001). Detecting Malingering and Deception: Forensic Distortion Analysis. Second Edition, Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press. This popular textbook discusses deception analysis in civil contexts, such as civil law and deception, malingered neuropsychological deficits, faked pain and loss of sensation and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and deception. It also probes deception in criminal contexts. These areas include deception and distortion as they apply to children, interviews and interrogation, criminal profiling, forensic hypnosis, competency to proceed, criminal responsibility, faked amnesia and recall skills, psychosis, hallucinations, substance abuse, dangerousness evaluations and expert testimony.
   
   
2. Hall, H.V., and Ebert (1987; 2nd ed., 2002). Violence Prediction: Guidelines for the Forensic Practitioner. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. The authors present a sequential decision-making process to assist the forensic professional in developing reasonable, testable and circumscribed conclusions in regard to human violence. They discuss the three primary modes of prediction, the typology of basal violence, content variables associated with violence, and point out why dangerousness is nearly impossible to predict from psychiatric diagnoses alone. The book also examines forensic deception styles, including techniques to determine client misrepresentation and distortion.
   
   
3. Hare. R. Manual for the Hare Psychopathy Checklist - Revised. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems. The manual for the Hare PCL-R is must reading as it provides the statistical backing and explicit instructions necessary to score and interpret a checklist used in the vast majority of extent, empirically based systems of risk analysis. Hare describes the early checklist criteria outlined in Cleckley's Mask of Sanity (1976) in which the concept of the psychopath was shown to be rooted in the literature for over a century. Two main factors for psychopaths have been isolated by Hare: (1) the selfish, callous and remorseless use of others and (2) a chronically unstable, antisocial and socially deviant lifestyle.
   
   
4. Litwack, T., & Schlesinger,, L. (1999). Dangerousness risk assessments; Research, legal, and clinical considerations. In A. Hess & I. Weiner (Eds.), The Handbook of Forensic Psychology (2nd ed.), pp. 171-217. New York: Wiley. The editors provide a comprehensive review of risk assessment. Of particular concern, clinical predictions of future violence are perceived as much better than has been reported in the past and continues to improve as clinical effectiveness becomes more quantitative and decision-oriented.
   
   
5. Monahan, J. (1981). Predicting Violent Behavior: An Assessment of Clinical Techniques. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. This classic text set the tone for several generations of research on violence prediction and is still valuable reading as it clearly covers core concepts and emerging trends. Monahan covers the common criticisms of prediction in the law, ranging from the false belief that accurate prediction is impossible to a variety of moral issues. The findings that clinical as opposed to actuarial prediction is dominant in forensic settings, despite research which indicates the opposite, is valid today. Particularly useful are the sections on the clinical use of statistical data and the clinical examination.
   
   
6. Monahan, J., & Steadman, H. (Eds.) (1994). Violence and Mental Disorders: Developments in Risk Assessment. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Thirteen years after the publication of Predicting Violent Behavior (Monahan, 1982), the search continues for accurate predictors of violence. In this edited work, research is presented that shows that psychopathy is a strong risk marker for violence. Anger itself can be a risk factor and the means to measure it are discussed. The interface of psychosis and violence is probed; for example, research generally shows a weak link between hallucinations and violence, with "command" hallucinations frequently being disobeyed by violent offenders. Epidemiological approaches to studying violence and mental disorders are presented, providing the basis for the launching of major research efforts in the years to follow.
   
   
7. Quinsey, G., Harris, G., Rice, M., & Cormier, C. (1998). Violent Offenders: Appraising and Managing Risk. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. This ground-breaking book, which presents the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) for violent offenders, is currently the most accurate risk appraisal instrument available. Probabilities of risk are provided for 7 to 10 years. The Sexual Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) for sexual offenders has fared less well in independent studies. The authors provide methods whereby the risk of violence can be altered, in terms of institutional treatment, community follow-up and relapse prevention.
   
   
8. Ressler, R., Burgess, A., & Douglas J. (1988). Sexual Homicides: Patterns and Motives. Massachusetts/Toronto: Lexington Books. This book analyzes lethal sexual behavior such as rape and torture-murder based on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's analysis of 36 incarcerated sexual murderers. The book offers a fundamental method for predicting (more properly, postdicting) violent sexual behavior by criminal profiling from crime scene analysis. The key value of the book, and what forensic professionals should factor into every homicide evaluation, is the crucial distinction between organized and disorganized scenes. The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime is presented as a resource for law enforcement agencies.

Intervention with Violence

1. Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. This classic and still very relevant textbook probes the origins of aggression, instigators of aggression, and maintaining conditions form a social learning perspective. Modification and control of violence is discussed in terms of modeling principles, differential reinforcement, institutional remedial systems, and changes in social systems. This book should be reviewed by all those who contemplate intervention with violence and aggression.
   
   
2. Gandhi, M.K. (1940). An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth (2nd ed.). Ahmedabad: Navajivan. This volume represents Gandhi's description of his personal search for "truth." It focuses upon his efforts toward self-realization as a basis for nonviolent resistance and service to the community. Gandhi's analysis demonstrates how Satyagraha grew out of the practical realities of developing creative solutions to oppression in South Africa and India.
   
   
3. Koss, M.P., Goodman, L.A., Browne, A., Fitzgerald, L.F., Keita, G.W., & Russo, N.F. (1994). No Safe Haven: Male Violence Against Women at Home, at Work, and in the Community. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. This comprehensive resource addresses violence perpetrated against adult women. The authors provide a superior review of the literature. The final chapter (Chapter 12, entitled "Common Themes and a Call for Action") proposes a series of initiatives at multiple levels to address the problem.
   
   
4. Tedeschi, J.T., & Felson, R.B. (1994). Violence, Aggression, and Coercive Actions.. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. After presenting and synthesizing traditional theories of aggression and bringing together literature on power and influence, conflict and competition, retributive and redistributive justice, self-presentation, cognitive attribution, and criminal violence, the authors present a social interactionist theory. From a social psychological perspective, the abandon the concept of aggression and substitute coercive actions. The resulting social interactionist theory of coercive actions is a theory of rational choice, with decisions made to obtain three goals: to gain compliance, to restore justice, and to assert and defend identities. This position provides a particularly strong foundation for practical analysis and intervention. The authors themselves relate their framework to real social problems, including sexual coercion and parenting styles.

Articles

To find scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals on these topics, please see the PsycINFO database (a fee-based subscription database published by the American Psychological Association) or PubMed (free from the National Library of Medicine).

Copyright © 2005, Pacific Institute for the Study of Conflict and Aggression, Kamuela, Hawaii  96743.
Email Contact