Violence Rewired : Evidence and Strategies for Public Health Action

This thought-provoking book draws together research from genetics, anthropology, psychology and the social sciences to show that widespread assumptions about the inevitability of human violence are almost entirely a collection of myths. While violence has been a recurring feature of human life, there is no reason to suppose that it is inherent in 'human nature'. On the contrary, patterns of aggressive behaviour are largely learned through experience and even those individuals who have often acted violently can learn to change. Rejecting the speculations of much contemporary writing about human aggression, Violence Rewired presents an evidence-based alternative: a multi-level model of action to reduce violence at both individual and collective levels, linked to public health initiatives developed by the World Health Organization. If humanity is to survive the challenges it faces, a more realistic appraisal of ourselves and our basic tendencies is an indispensable part of the solution. Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Epigraph Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Boxes Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction and Overview I.1 Background I.2 Defining Terms I.3 Context for This Book I.4 Plan of the Book Part I Origins 1 The Prospect of Human Violence: Pessimism or Realism? 1.1 Human Violence: The Tendency to Pessimism 1.2 The Decline in Rates of Interpersonal Violence 1.3 Violence as a Health Issue 1.4 Violence, Death, and Physical Injury 1.5 Violence and Mental Health 1.6 Violence as a Clinical Issue 1.7 Violence as a Public Health Issue 1.8 Conclusion 2 The Roots of Human Violence: In Search of the 'Hard Wired' 2.1 Introduction: The Standard Narrative of 'Hard Wiring' 2.2 Evolutionary Connections 2.3 Violence in Early Human Societies 2.4 Violence in Small-Scale Societies Today 2.5 Evolutionary Forensic Psychology 2.6 Conclusion 3 The Biology of Violence: Possibilities and Limitations 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Neurobiology of Violence 3.3 Genes and Behaviour 3.4 Quantitative Genetics: Studies of 'Heritability' Evaluating Quantitative Genetics of Aggression and Violence Interpreting Heritability How Much Does Heritability Matter? 3.5 Molecular Genetics Candidate Genes Genome-wide Association Studies Parallels in Research on Mental Disorders 3.6 Gene–Environment Interactions and Epigenetics Non-coding Genes 3.7 Conclusion 4 Developmental Factors in Violence Propensity: The Learning of Violence 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Becoming Violent 4.3 The Influence of Temperament 4.4 Socialisation 4.5 Cultural Context 4.6 Situational Factors 4.7 Cognitive Processes 4.8 Conclusion 5 Structural Violence: Social and Political Factors in Understanding Violence 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Beyond Direct Violence 5.3 The Concept of Structural Violence 5.4 Inequality as the Engine of Violence 5.5 Developments in the Idea of Structural Violence 5.6 Violence, Structure, and Public Health 5.7 Conclusion Part II Solutions 6 Advancing a Global Public Health Response to Violence 6.1 The Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 6.2 National Action Plans for Violence around the World: Coordinating Law, Policy, and Interventions 6.3 Laws to Deter and Prevent Violence 6.4 Social, Educational, and Therapeutic Prevention Programmes 6.5 Victim Services 6.6 Monitoring Violence: National Prevalence Surveys 6.7 The Logic and Procedures of Evaluation Research 6.8 Conclusion 7 Risk Assessment: Can Violence Be Predicted? 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Development of Risk Assessment Unstructured Clinical Judgement (UCJ) Actuarial Risk Assessment Instruments (ARAIs) Structured Professional Judgement (SPJ) From Risk Assessment to Risk Management 7.3 The Continuum of Risk Assessment Approaches Risk and Protective Factors 7.4 Elements of Risk Assessment Research Classification and Decision Trees 7.5 Reviews of Risk Assessment Research 7.6 Ethical Questions Raised by Risk Assessment 7.7 Conclusion 8 Pharmaceutical Interventions: Medication, Violence, and the Public Health 8.1 Introduction 8.2 The Problem of Unintended Side Effects 8.3 Big Pharma, Disease-Mongering, and Violence 8.4 Enforced Medication 8.5 Methodological Challenges in Testing Drugs for Violence 8.6 Which Drugs Are Effective for Treating Violence? 8.7 Conclusion 9 Psychosocial Interventions: The Unlearning of Violence 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Reducing Violent Behaviour by Children and Young People Prevention Programmes at Home and School Interventions with Young People in the Justice System 9.3 Reducing Violence by Adult Offenders Skills-Training and Related Methods Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) 9.4 Reducing Violence by Offenders with Mental Disorders 9.5 Methodological Challenges in Researching Psychosocial Interventions 9.6 Psychopathy, Treatment Resistance, and Responsiveness 9.7 Conclusion 10 Changing Structures: Integrated Interventions for Violence 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Direct and Structural Violence Revisited 10.3 Challenges in Changing Structures 10.4 Undoing Structural Violence: Theoretical Perspectives 10.5 Types of Structural Intervention 10.6 Integrated Interventions for Preventing Intimate Partner Violence 10.7 Conclusion Rewiring Our Expectations: Lessons and Prospects Appendix Major UN Initiatives to Address Violence, 1986–2018 References Index "Is violence "hard-wired"? Is the tendency to be violent, in other words, a fixed and elemental feature of the human brain which cannot be significantly changed and which will always exert a destructive influence on human behaviour? This is one of the fundamental questions of philosophy which has been debated over the last two millennia. It is also a key topic for the biological, psychological and social sciences and any conclusion has substantial implications for how societies organise and police themselves. A decisive answer to this question is still unavailable and may remain out of reach for many years to come. But the persistent and pessimistic tendency to view some people as born with a predisposition to act aggressively towards others and beyond a "cure" is open to serious challenge. Such a view of human nature can lead to unnecessarily restrictive and punitive interventions which are unjust for the individual and needlessly costly for society. Current scientific research and international policy developments actually suggest that much can be done to prevent and intervene successfully with many kinds of violent behaviour. This supports the idea that violence as a concept can itself be "rewired" to enable new possibilities in constructing a safer and more peaceful world. This book focuses on that major issue and has three main aims. The first is to draw together and evaluate the implications of recently acquired knowledge about human violence from across the full spectrum of scientific disciplines. This knowledge offers fresh perspectives and a new understanding of why violence occurs and what the main approaches to reducing it should be. The second aim is 21 to address the pessimism which often pervades discussions about this problem by emphasising the potential for greater confidence about effectively intervening with violent people and in violent situations. It is true that we are a long way from eradicating violence and we may ultimately never succeed i n doing so, but nevertheless we have made much progress in the past few decades in designing new ways of successfully understanding and working with those who act violently. The third aim here is to link the full range of interventions currently being developed and tested around the world to a global strategy for tackling the problem, which has been established by the World Health Organisation. This strategy offers the opportunity to integrate and implement effective interventions on a scale that has not been considered before. Taken together, the potential synthesis of new knowledge, greater confidence and innovative international policy makes it timely for a "new look" at the old problem of human violence and offers the prospect of a major step forward in producing a safer world"-- Provided by publisher This book synthesises research on violence for researchers and policy makers to inform future practice. Those who are interested in human conflict and how to reduce it are offered an alternative picture of the causes of violence through a combination of findings from anthropology, genetics, psychology, psychiatry and criminology.