Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T22:55:48.879Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Human Nature and Crime Control: Improving the Feasibility of Nurturant Strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Bryan Vila
Bryan Vila*
Affiliation:
University of California—Irvine, USA
Get access

Abstract

The same evolutionary and ecological principles that organize our understanding of organisms and organic communities can be used to help understand criminal behavior and our responses to it. This approach suggests solutions for an important dilemma that confronts the United States. The dilemma is that preoccupation with problems such as gang violence, drug abuse, and street crime increasingly diverts resources and attention away from child development problems associated with the health, education, and welfare of young people. Just as a consensus is emerging about the importance of balancing traditional criminal justice system approaches to crime control with nurturant approaches that address child development concerns, child development program resources are dwindling. This dynamic is driven by a vicious cycle of media sensationalism, political expediency, and public impatience that encourages ineffective “quick fixes” for crime. An evolutionary ecological approach to crime control suggests ways to reverse this vicious cycle and increase the political, programmatic, and economic feasibility of child development programs.

Type
Roundtable Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 1997 , pp. 3 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, P., Arrow, K., and Pines, D., eds. (1988). The Economy as an Evolving Complex System. Redwood City, CA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Apter, A., Plutchik, R., and van Praag, H. (1993). “Anxiety, Impulsivity and Depressed Mood in Relation to Suicidal and Violent Behavior.” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 87:1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arthur, W. (1989). “Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events.” The Economic Journal 99:116–31.Google Scholar
Arthur, W. (1990). “Positive Feedbacks in the Economy.” Scientific American 262 (2):92–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axelrod, R. (1987). “The Evolution of Strategies in the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma.” In Davis, L. (ed.), Genetic Algorithms and Simulated Annealing. London: Pitman.Google Scholar
Baker, N. and Burnside, J. (1994). Relational Justice: A Reform Dynamic for Criminal Justice. Cambridge: Jubilee Policy Group.Google Scholar
Barnett, W. and Escobar, C. (1990). “Economic Costs and Benefits of Early Intervention.” In Meisels, S. and Shonkoff, J. (eds.), Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Binder, A. and Polan, S. (1991). “The Kennedy-Johnson Years, Social Theory, and Federal Policy in Control of Juvenile Delinquency.” Crime and Delinquency 37:242–61.Google Scholar
Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., and Nagin, D. (1978). Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Blumstein, A., Farrington, D., and Moitra, S. (1985). “Delinquency Careers: Innocents, Desisters and Persisters.” In Tonry, M. and Morris, N. (eds.), Crime and Justice, vol. 6. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Boyd, R. and Richerson, P. (1985). Culture and the Evolutionary Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Boyd, R. and Richerson, P. (1992). “Punishment Allows the Evolution of Cooperation (or Anything Else) in Sizable Groups.” Ethology and Sociobiology 13:171–95.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, J. (1992). “Poverty, Power, and White Collar Crime: Sutherland and the Paradoxes of Criminological Theory.” In Schlegel, K. and Weisburd, D. (eds.), White Collar Crime Reconsidered. Boston: Northeastern University Press.Google Scholar
Braun, S. (1994). “Tuning Out the Hype and Gore.” Los Angeles Times (November 2):A1.Google Scholar
Buckley, W. Jr. (1990). Gratitude: Reflections on What We Owe Our Country. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, B. and Cohen, L. (1995). “Self Interest, Equity, and Crime Control: A Game Theoretic Analysis of Criminal Decision Making.” Criminology 99:483–518.Google Scholar
Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice (1995). Prisoners in 1994. NCJ-151654. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice (1996). Prison and Jail Inmates, 1995. NCJ-161132. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
California Penal Code §667. The Career Criminal Punishment Act.Google Scholar
Carnegie Corporation of New York (1994). Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.Google Scholar
Catton, W. Jr. (1992). “Separation versus Unification in Sociological Human Ecology.” Advances in Human Ecology 1:65–99.Google Scholar
Clarke, R. and Felson, M., eds. (1993). Routine Activity and Rational Choice. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
CNN/Knight-Ridder (1992). “Town Meeting Poll.” Knight Ridder Corporation, Sept. 8.Google Scholar
Cohen, L. and Felson, M. (1979). “Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach.” American Sociological Review 44:588–608.Google Scholar
Cohen, L. and Machalek, R. (1988). “A General Theory of Expropriative Crime.” American Journal of Sociology 94:465–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, L. and Machalek, R. (1994). “The Normalcy of Crime: From Durkheim to Evolutionary Ecology.” Rationality and Society 6:286–308Google Scholar
Cohen, L. and Vila, B. (1996). “Self-Control and Social-Control: An Exposition of the Gottfredson-Hirschi/Sampson-Laub Debate.” Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention 5:1–26.Google Scholar
Cohen, L., Vila, B., and Machalek, R. (1995). “Expropriative Crime and Crime Policy: An Evolutionary Ecological Analysis.” Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention 4:197–219.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. (1990). Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. (1992). “Some Points on Choice in Education.” Sociology of Education 65:260–62.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. (1993). “The Rational Reconstruction of Society: 1992 Presidential Address.” American Sociological Review 58:1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Committee for Economic Development (CED) (1970). Improving the Public Welfare System: A Statement on National Policy by the Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development. New York: CED.Google Scholar
Committee for Economic Development (CED) (1991). “The Unfinished Agenda: A New Vision for Child Development and Education.” New York: CED.Google Scholar
Crossette, B. (1994). “A Third-World Effort on Family Planning.” New York Times (September 7):A6(N).Google Scholar
Downs, D. and Morgan, R. (1994). “‘Hostages to Fortune’? The Politics of Law and Order in Post-War Britain.” In The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Earle, R.B. (1995). Helping to Prevent Child Abuse–and Future Criminal Consequences: Hawai'i Healthy Start. NCJ 156216. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Earls, F. and Reiss, A. Jr. (1994). Breaking the Cycle: Predicting and Preventing Crime. NCJ 140541. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Elder, G. (1986). “Military Times and Turning Points in Men's Lives.” Developmental Psychology 22:233–45.Google Scholar
Ellis, L. and Coontz, P.D. (1990). “Androgens, Brain Functioning, and Criminality: The Neurohormonal Foundations of Antisociality.” In Ellis, L. and Hoffman, H. (eds.), Crime in Biological, Social, and Moral Contexts. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Entman, R. (1994). Violence on Television: News and “Reality” Programming in Chicago. Chicago: Chicago Council on Urban Affairs, May 9.Google Scholar
Farrington, D. (1994). “Early Developmental Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency.” Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 4:209–27.Google Scholar
Farrington, D., Ohlin, L., and Wilson, J. (1986). Understanding and Controlling Crime: Toward a New Research Strategy. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Program Support Section (1996). Telephone conversation with author, August 23, 11:25 a.m. PST.Google Scholar
Ferraro, K. (1995). Fear of Crime: Interpreting Victimization Risk. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Fishbein, D. (1990). “Biological Perspectives in Criminology.” Criminology 28:27–72.Google Scholar
Fishbein, D., Dax, E., Lozovsky, D., and Jaffe, J. (1992). “Neuroendocrine Responses to a Glucose Challenge in Substance Users with High and Low Levels of Aggression, Impulsivity, and Antisocial Personality.” Neuropsychobiology 25:106–14.Google Scholar
Fisher, R. (1930). The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Flanagan, T. and Maguire, K., eds. (1992). Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1991. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
From, A. and Kemp, J. (1995). “A GI Bill for Workers' Empowerment.” Los Angeles Times (June 20):B9.Google Scholar
Fuchs, V. and Reklis, D. (1992). “America's Children: Economic Perspectives and Policy Options.” Science 255(3):41–46.Google Scholar
Gallup, G. Jr. (Annual). The Gallup Poll. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources.Google Scholar
Glazer, N. (1988). The Limits of Social Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, H. (1990). Problem-Oriented Policing. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, M. and Heath, L. (1991). “The News Business, Crime, and Fear.” In Protess, D. and McCombs, M. (eds.), Agenda Setting: Readings on Media, Public Opinion, and Policymaking. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gottfredson, D. (1990). “Changing School Structures to Benefit High-Risk Youths.” In Leone, P. (ed.), Understanding Troubled and Troubling Youth. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Gottfredson, M. and Hirschi, T. (1990). A General Theory of Crime. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grasmick, H., Tittle, C., Bursik, R. Jr., and Arneklev, B. (1993). “Testing the Core Empirical Implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 30:5–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenwood, P., Model, K., Rydell, C.P., and Chiesa, J. (1996). Diverting Children from a Life of Crime: Measuring Costs and Benefits. Santa Monica, CA: RANDGoogle Scholar
Greenwood, P., Rydell, C., Abrahamse, A., Caulkins, J., Chiesa, J., Model, K., and Klein, S. (1994). Three Strikes and You're Out: Estimated Benefits and Costs of California's New Mandatory-Sentencing Law. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.Google Scholar
Gustavsson, N. and Segal, E. (1994). Critical Issues in Child Welfare. Thousand Oaks, CA: SageGoogle Scholar
Harwood, R. (1988). “Parental Stress and the Young Infant's Needs.” In Zigler, E. and Frank, M (eds.), The Parental Leave Crisis: Toward a National Policy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Havemann, J. (1993) “The Trade Secrets of Denmark.” Los Angeles Times (July 3):A1.Google Scholar
Hawkins, J., Catalano, R. Jr., and Miller, J. (1992). “Risk and Protective Factors for Alcohol and Other Drug Problems in Adolescence and Early Adulthood: Implications for Substance Abuse Prevention.” Psychological Bulletin 112:64–105.Google Scholar
Herrnstein, R. and Murray, C. (1994). The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Hirschi, T. and Gottfredson, M. (1983). “Age and the Explanation of Crime.” American Journal of Sociology 89:552–84.Google Scholar
Hirschi, T. and Gottfredson, M. (1995). “Control Theory and the Life-Course Perspective.” Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention 4:131–42.Google Scholar
Howell, J. (1995). Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. NCJ 153681. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Huesmann, L., Eron, L., Lefkowitz, M., and Walder, L. (1984). “Stability of Aggression over Time and Generations.” Developmental Psychology 20:1120–34.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G. (1965). The Ecological Theater and the Evolutionary Play. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Katz, J. (1988). Seductions of Crime: Moral and Sensual Attractions in Doing Evil. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Kurz, G. (1995). 8% Early Intervention Program: Program Design & Preliminary Field Test Results. Santa Ana, CA: Orange County Probation Department.Google Scholar
Kurz, G. and Moore, L. (1994). The 8% Problem: Chronic Juvenile Offender Recidivism. Santa Ana, CA: Orange County Probation Department.Google Scholar
Lally, J., Mangione, P., Honig, A., and Wittner, D. (1988). “More Pride, Less Delinquency: Findings from the Ten-Year Follow-Up Study of the Syracuse University Family Development Research Program.” Zero to Three, April, 13–18.Google Scholar
Langan, P. (1994). “Between Prison and Probation–Intermediate Sanctions.” Science, 264 (May 6): 791–93.Google Scholar
Lazenby, H. and Letsch, S. (1990). Health Care Financing Review 12:1(Winter). Washington, DC: Health Care Financing Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Google Scholar
Los Angeles Times (1994). “‘Sweet’ Reno Has Wrong Job, Gramm Says.” (January 22):A23.Google Scholar
Lozoff, B. (1989). “Nutrition and Behavior.” American Psychologist 44:231–36.Google Scholar
Magnet, M. (1993). The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties' Legacy to the Underclass. New York: William Morrow.Google Scholar
Maguire, K. and Flanagan, T., eds. (1990). Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1990. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Maguire, K. and Pastore, A., eds. (1995). Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1994. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Mandel, M. and Magnusson, P. (1993). “The Economics of Crime.” Business Week. (December 13):72–81.Google Scholar
Marvell, T. and Moody, C. (1994). “Prison Population Growth and Crime Reduction.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 10:109–40.Google Scholar
McCombs, M. (1994). “News Influence on Our Pictures of the World.” In Bryant, J. and Zillmann, D. (eds.), Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McCord, J. and Tremblay, R., eds. (1992). Preventing Antisocial Behavior: Interventions from Birth through Adolescence. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
McManus, J. (1994). Market-Driven Journalism: Let the Citizen Beware? Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Mealey, L. (1995). “The Sociobiology of Sociopathy: An Integrated Evolutionary Model.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18:523–42.Google Scholar
Miller, T.R., Cohen, M.A., and Wiersema, B. (1996). Victim Costs and Consequences: A New Look. NCJ 155281. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Moffitt, T. (1993). “‘Life-Course-Persistent’ and ‘Adolescence-Limited’ Antisocial Behavior: A Developmental Taxonomy.” Psychological Review 100:674–701.Google Scholar
Moynihan, D. (1969). Maximum Feasible Misunderstanding: Community Action in the War on Poverty. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
National Center for Education Statistics (1992). The Condition of Education, 1992. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Education.Google Scholar
Patterson, G., DeBaryshe, B., and Ramsey, E. (1989). “A Developmental Perspective on Antisocial Behavior.” American Psychologist 44:329–35.Google Scholar
Patterson, G., Reid, J., and Dishion, T. (1992). Antisocial Boys. Eugene, OR: Castalia.Google Scholar
Paul, S. (1990). “Introduction: Serotonin and Its Effects on Human Behavior.” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (Supplement) 51:3–4.Google Scholar
Plomin, R. (1989). “Environment and Genes: Determinants of Behavior.” American Psychologist 44:105–11.Google Scholar
Plutchik, R. and van Praag, H. (1989). “The Measurement of Suicidality, Aggressivity and Impulsivity.” Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry (Supplement) 13:S23–34.Google Scholar
Protess, D. and McCombs, M., eds. (1991). Agenda Setting: Readings on Media, Public Opinion, and Policymaking. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Raine, A., Brennan, P., Farrington, D.P. and Mednick, S.A., eds. (1997). Biosocial Bases of Violence. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Reiss, A. Jr. and Roth, J. (1993). Understanding and Preventing Violence. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Richerson, P., Borgerhoff Mulder, M., and Vila, B. (1996). Principles of Human Ecology. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Rutherford, F. (1990). Science for All Americans: Project 2061. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sampson, R. and Laub, J. (1993). Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points through Life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sampson, R. and Laub, J. (1995). “Understanding Variability in Lives through Time: Contributions of Life-Course Criminology.” Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention 4:143–58.Google Scholar
Savage, J. and Vila, B. (1997). “Lagged Effects of Nurturance on Crime: A Cross-National Comparison.” Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention 6:in press.Google Scholar
Schmalleger, F. (1997). Criminal Justice Today. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Schroeder, P. (1988). “Parental Leave: The Need for a Federal Policy.” In Zigler, E. and Frank, M. (eds.), The Parental Leave Crisis: Toward a National Policy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Schweinhart, L., Barnes, H., and Weikart, D., eds. (1993). Significant Benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study through Age 27. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.Google Scholar
Seitz, V., Rosenbaum, L., and Apfel, N. (1985). “Effects of Family Support Intervention: A Ten-Year Follow-Up.” Child Development 56:376–91.Google Scholar
Shaw, S. (1996). E-mail communication with author, August 15, 11:44 a.m. GMT.Google Scholar
Singer, E. and Endreny, P. (1993). Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters, and Other Hazards. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Snell, T. and Morton, D. (1992). Prisoners in 1991. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
Spelman, W. (1994). Criminal Incapacitation. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Steward, J. (1955). The Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, M., Ellis, R., and Wildavsky, A. (1990). Cultural Theory. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Thornberry, T., Lizotte, A., Krohn, M., Farnworth, M., and Jang, S. (1994). “Delinquent Peers, Beliefs, and Delinquent Behavior: A Longitudinal Test of Interactional Theory.” Criminology 32:47–84.Google Scholar
Tracy, P., Wolfgang, M., and Figlio, R. (1990). Delinquency Careers in Two Birth Cohorts. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Tremblay, R. and Craig, W. (1995). “Developmental Crime Prevention.” In Tonry, M. and Farrington, D. (eds.), Building a Safer Society: Strategic Approaches to Crime Prevention. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tuchman, B. (1984). The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam. New York: Ballantine.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census (annual). Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control (Annual). Vital Statistics of the United States, vol. II. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Vila, B. (1994). “A General Paradigm for Understanding Criminal Behavior: Extending Evolutionary Ecological Theory.” Criminology 32:311–59.Google Scholar
Vila, B. and Cohen, L. (1993). “Crime as Strategy: Testing an Evolutionary Ecological Theory of Expropriative Crime.” American Journal of Sociology 98:873–912.Google Scholar
Warner, K. (1986). Selling Smoke: Cigarette Advertising and Public Health. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.Google Scholar
Werner, E. and Smith, R. (1992). Overcoming the Odds: High Risk Children from Birth to Adulthood. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, E.O. (1978). On Human Nature. New York: Bantam.Google Scholar
Wilson, J.Q. (1989). Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Wilson, J.Q. (1995). “Crime and Public Policy.” In Wilson, J. and Petersilia, J. (eds.), Crime. San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies.Google Scholar
Wilson, J.Q. and Herrnstein, R. (1985). Crime and Human Nature. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Wolfgang, M., Figlio, R., and Sellin, T. (1972). Delinquency in a Birth Cohort. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Yoshikawa, H. (1994). “Prevention as Cumulative Protection: Effects of Early Family Support and Education on Chronic Delinquency and Its Risks.” Psychological Bulletin 115:28–54.Google Scholar
Zimring, F.E., Hawkins, G., and Ibser, H. (1995). Estimating the Effect of Increased Incarceration on Crime in California. Berkeley, CA: California Policy Seminar.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, M. (1994). “Impulsive Unsocialized Sensation Seeking: The Biological Foundations of a Basic Dimension of Personality.” In Bates, J. and Wachs, T. (eds.), Temperament: Individual Differences at the Interface of Biology and Behavior. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar