Book dossier

Prologue to violence

by Abby Stein

"Despite mounting reference to the "transgenerational transmission of violence," we still lack a compelling understanding of the linkage between the interpersonal violence of early life and the criminal violence of adulthood. In Prologue to Violence: Child Abuse, Dissociation, and Crime, Abby Stein draws on the narratives of 65 incarcerated subjects and extensive material from law enforcement files to remedy this lacuna in both the forensic and psychodynamical literature. In the process she calls into question prevailing beliefs about the criminal character and motivation. For Stein the early trauma to which adult criminals are subjected remains unformulated and, as such, unavailable for reflection. Contrary to common belief, these criminals, especially sex murderers, do not commit their crimes in a rational or fully conscious way. They are not driven by a deviant fantasy, their psychopathy is not inborn, and they rarely commit acts of violence "without conscience.""--BOOK JACKET.