Key Contested Issues in Criminology and Criminal Justice A Biopsychosocial Perspective

Section 1: Philosophical Issues

1. Philosophy in Criminology/Criminal Justice
The Value of Philosophy
Ontology and Epistemology
Moral Relativism
Reductionism and Holism
Essentialism

2. Ideology and Criminology
Criminology’s Achilles’ Heel
Temperament and Ideology
Visions of Social Reality
The Locus of Control
The Locus of Control Among Criminologists

3. Human Nature and Criminology
Is There a Human Nature?
The Blank-Slate View
The Ancient Seeds of Human Nature
Good and Evil are Both Driven by Selfishness

4. The Issue of Free Will Versus Determinism
Do Humans Have Free Will?
Free Will as Quantitative
Neuro-Determinism
Compatibilism
Free Will and Rationality
Emotion and Crime

Section 2: Biopsychosocial Issues

5. Integrating the Natural Sciences with Criminology
Tinbergen’s Four Questions
Criminology and Evolutionary Biology
Sexuality and Criminality
Cheater Theory
Conditional Adaptation Theory

6. Behavioral and Molecular Genetics
Genes and “Genetic Determinism”
Behavioral Genetics
Shared and Non-Shared Environment
Gene-Environment Interaction and Gene-Environment Correlation
Molecular Genetics
Serotonin Polymorphisms and Criminal Behavior
Dopamine Polymorphisms and Criminal Behavior
The Differential Susceptibility Hypothesis

7. The Human Brain
The Wonders of the Human Brain
Brain Communication: Neurotransmitters
Glutamate and Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
Getting Connected: Synaptogenesis
Hormones: Testosterone
Hormones: Cortisol
The Triple Imbalance Hypothesis and Aggression
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory

8. Childhood Maltreatment and Brain Development
Evolutionary Developmental Biology and the Brain
The Nurturing Experience
Maltreatment and Early Brain Development
Experience-Expected and Experience-Dependent Brain Development
Maltreatment and Antisocial Behavior
Epigenetics

9. Rationality or Emotion: Which One Drives the Bus?
The Enlightenment and Rationality
Primary and Secondary Emotions
The Autonomic Nervous System and Conscience
Empathy and Callous-Unemotionality
Low Fear

Section 3: Issues of Crime Causation

10. Social Learning Versus Social and Self-Control Theories
Broad Assumptions of the Theories
Differential Association Theory
Akers’ Social Learning Theory
The Neglect of Individual Differences
Social Control/Bonding Theory
Self-Control Theory
Child Effects and Genetics

11. Radical/Critical Idealism Versus Orthodox Realism
The Radical/Critical Perspective and the Nature of Crime
The Ontological Status of Crime
Labeling Theory
Romanticizing Criminals
Left Realism
The Square of Crime and Crime Prevention

12. What is Intelligence and How is it Related to Crime?
What is Intelligence?
Neurobiology and Intelligence
Intelligence and Crime
Intellectual Imbalance and Crime
Factors Mediating the IQ/Crime Relationship
Offending Among High-IQ People

13. Issues Related to Socioeconomic Status, Poverty, and Crime
Socioeconomic Status
IQ and SES
Environmental Effects on IQ
Temperament and SES
Poverty and SES
Poverty and Crime
The War on Poverty and Other Anti-Poverty Programs

14. Religion: Barrier or Bridge to Antisocial Behavior?
Religion: The Moral Institution
Religion as a Bridge to Antisocial Behavior
Religion as a Barrier to Antisocial Behavior
Religion and Self-Control

Section 4: Issues in Criminal Justice

15. Abolish the Police: Why or Why Not?
Do the Police Prevent Crime?
The Effects of De-Policing
Is There a War on the Police?
Police Shootings of Blacks and Crime Statistics
Police Shootings and Race-Differentiated Crime Levels
Circumstances in Which Officers Are Justified in Using Lethal Force
Shootings by Black Police Officers

16. Issues in Criminal Punishment
Consequentialism and Punishment Justification
Non-Consequentialism and Retribution
Rejecting Punishment
Punishment as an Evolutionary Adaptation
Detecting Cheats in Cooperative Groups
Forgiveness Strategies

17. Issues in Criminal Sentencing
Race and Criminal Sentencing
Is Criminal History a Proxy for Race?
Criminal Sentencing and Gender
Sentencing Guidelines
Presentence Investigation Reports

18. The Death Penalty Issue
The Death Penalty and Public Opinion
Interpreting Death Penalty Studies
Race and the Death Penalty
The Death Penalty and Victim Race
Women and the Death Penalty
Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP)

References

Index

Biography

Anthony Walsh is an emeritus professor at Boise State University, from which he retired at age 77 after 34 years of service. He has worked as a marine, police officer, and adult probation officer and entered academia at the ripe old age of 43. He has published 57 books and over 150 articles/book chapters/encyclopedia entries. He has received lifetime achievement awards from the Biosocial Criminology Association (2014) and the Biopsychosocial Division of the American Society of Criminology (2019).