2020/01/18 – Monday – Book Club: The Anatomy of Violence by Adriane Raine

We’ll be discussing: The Anatomy of Violence by Adriane Raine RSVP -> here Monday, January 18, 2021 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM PST Why do some innocent kids grow up to become cold-blooded serial killers? Is bad biology partly to blame? For more than three decades Adrian Raine has been researching the biological roots of violence and establishing neurocriminology, a new field that applies neuroscience techniques to investigate the causes and cures of crime. In The Anatomy of Violence, Raine dissects the criminal mind with a fascinating, readable, and far-reaching scientific journey into the body of evidence that reveals the brain to be a key culprit in crime causation. Raine documents from genetic research that the seeds of sin are sown early in life, giving rise to abnormal physiological functioning that cultivates crime. Drawing on classical case studies of well-known killers in history—including Richard Speck, Ted Kaczynski, and Henry Lee Lucas—Raine illustrates how impairments to brain areas controlling our ability to experience fear, make good decisions, and feel guilt predispose us to violence. He contends that killers can actually be coldhearted: something as simple as a low resting heart rate can give rise to violence. But arguing that biology is not destiny, he also sketches out provocative new biosocial treatment approaches that can change the brain and prevent violence. Finally, Raine tackles the thorny legal and ethical dilemmas posed by his research, visualizing a futuristic brave new world where our increasing ability to identify violent offenders early in life might shape crime-prevention policies, for good and bad. Will we sacrifice our notions of privacy and civil rights to identify children as potential killers in the hopes of helping both offenders and victims? How should we punish individuals with little to no control over their violent behavior? And should parenting require a license? The Anatomy of Violence offers a revolutionary appraisal of our understanding of criminal offending, while also raising provocative questions that challenge our core human values of free will, responsibility, and punishment. Come with a few thoughts/ideas about the book to discuss! About the Venue For the foreseeable future we’re running the book club over zoom, the moment you RSVP to this event you will be able to see the zoom link. About the Book Club • We’re glad to have you join us – if you hate the book, love the book, or even didn’t finish the book. If you’re a newcomer, get a head start on the book for next month by looking at the monthly lineup (https://www.meetup.com/SacFAN/messages/boards/thread/53010702)! Photo by fotografierende on Unsplash