The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals

By Lonnie H. Athens

Book Overview

Lonnie Athens examines a problem that has long baffled experts and lay people alike: How does a person become a dangerous violent criminal? He explains how those who commit brutal crimes begin as relatively benign individuals who undergo lengthy, at times tortuous. development leading them to malevolence. The process that Athens labels "violentization" encompasses four stages: brutalization, belligerency, violent performance, and virulency. Athens uses vivid first-person accounts gleaned from in-depth interviews with nascent and hardened violent criminals to back up his theory, producing a book that will appeal to a wide variety of readers interested in criminal justice, law, and sociology.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0252062620
• ISBN13: 9780252062629
• Release Date: August 1992
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

See "Why They Kill" by Richard Rhodes to understand Athens

Pulitzer Price winner Richard Rhodes has written a new book, "Why They Kill," as a biography of Lonnie Athens and an explication of his book and work on the origins of violence in individuals. He clearly wants to lift perceptions of the research value of Athens' work to a level that will give it the credibility it deserves in the face of opposition from vested but less-well-researched interests in the fields of criminology and sociology.