Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Human physique and behaviour has been shaped by the pressures of natural selection. This is received wisdom in all scientifically informed circles. Evolutionary psychology is arguably the fastest growing and most exciting perspective in social science.
Criminology has, so far, been resistant to this mode of thought for reasons that include a perceived need to remain true to the tradition of human malleability by social context, the fear of racist eugenics, and a naive equation of natural selection with biological determinism. Given its fruitfulness elsewhere in biological and social science, it is only a matter of time before conventional criminology comes to be informed by the evolutionary perspective.
Evolution and Crime provides an informed and realistic appraisal of the potential contribution that a more welcoming approach to the evolutionary perspective would make to criminology; both theoretically (by expanding understanding of the complexity of the origins of behaviour labeled criminal) and practically (where the evolutionary approach can be utilized to inform crime control policy and practice).
This fascinating new book opens up new ways of looking at different aspects of crime and crime control, and includes chapters on such topics as white collar crime, violent crime, female crime victimization, environmental criminology and the behaviour of psychopaths.
Synopsis
Human physique and behaviour has been shaped by the pressures of natural selection. This is received wisdom in all scientifically informed circles. Currently, the topic of crime is rarely touched upon in textbooks on evolution and the topic of evolution rarely even mentioned in criminology textbooks. This book for the first time explores how an evolution informed criminology has clear implications for enhancing our understanding of the criminal law, crime and criminal behaviour.
This book is directed more towards students of criminology than students of evolution. It is suggested that there is scope for more collaborative work, with criminologists and crime scientists exposed to Darwinian thought having much to gain. What is suggested is simply that such thinking provides a fresh perspective. If that perspective yields only a fraction of the understanding when applied to crime as it has elsewhere in science, the effort will have been worthwhile.
The authors attempt to provide a modest appraisal of the potential contribution that a more welcoming approach to the evolutionary perspective would make to criminology; both theoretically (by expanding understanding of the complexity of the origins of behaviour labelled criminal) and practically (where the evolutionary approach can be utilised to inform crime control policy and practice). An evolutionary lens is applied to diverse criminological topics such as the origins of criminal law, female crime, violence, and environmental factors involved in crime causation.