I began my research on the topic of violent crime prevention. After reading about different crime programs, it became obvious to me that many of these programs conflicted in their deterrence philosophy. Many of the crime programs were based on a different theory of violence causation. It seemed more important for me to understand why violence exists before learning the methods of preventing crime. I looked up the definition of violence in several sources and after combining some words decided that violence is simply extreme aggression. Aggression is the behavior intended to injure another person. The six main aggression theories include: the instinct theories, the biological theories, the drive theories, the learning theories, the social learning theories, and the cognitive theories. Understanding the major theories of aggression is essential to understanding the theoretical and practical solutions to fighting crime.

Pioneered by Sigmund Freud, the instinctive theories of aggression are arguably the first explanations of human aggression. In the 1920's Freud formulated his theories known as life and death instincts. He believed that the life instinct explained humans' motivation to

M.A. Jackson (Eds.), Impulsivity: Theory, assessment, and treatment. New York: Guilford Press.

Dabbs,Dr.,I.(1997)Testosterone linked to violence in female inmates.Center for Advancement of Health[Online]. http://www.cfah.org/(11/28/99)

" 'It's becoming increasingly clear that we're never going to solve the problem of violent crime if we don't address the link between brain damage and criminal behavior,' says University of Southern California researcher Adrian Raine, Ph.D." (Sullivan 1997) The most astonishing case study to date, which has brought much of the interest to the effect of brain damage on aggression, is the killings of Richard Speck. Speck murdered eight nursing students in the summer of 1966. When Speck was first place in jail he was visited twice weekly by the head Cook County Jail psychologist Dr. Marvin Ziporyn. After a few sessions with Speck, Dr. Ziporyn's believed that Speck was suffering from organic brain damage and was clinically insane. Speck's sister testified that he had suffered from an unusually high number of serious injuries to his head as a child. When he was six, he fell headfirst some ten feet from a tree and was knocked unconscious for twenty minutes. At ten, he ran headfirst into a steel rod that cracked his skull and bruised his brain. At twelve, he slammed his head against a rock after diving head first into White Rock Lake in Dallas, requiring more medical treatment. A few years later he was accidentally struck in the head with a claw hammer and went into convulsions. These and numerous other head injuries, Ziporyn believed, caused a considerable amount of brain damage. This brain damage, according to Ziporyn, probably played a major role in the aggressive delinquent behavior displayed by Speck during adolescence (). Some psychologists believe that if some major brain injuries are diagnosed and treated earlier and possible rise in aggression can be prevented.

Dalton, K. (1961). Menstruation and crime. British Medical Journal, 2, 1752-1753.

Tavris, C. (1982). Anger. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Jenning, Karen, I. (April 1997). Serotonin and judgement. Brain Briefings [Online]. http://www.sfn.org/briefings/serotonin.html (11/26/99).

Malick JB, Barnett A (1976), The role of serotonergic pathways in isolation-induced aggression in mice. Pharmacol Biochemical Behavior 5:55-61

Moyer, K.E.(1976). the Psychobiology of aggresson. New York: Harper & Row.

Coccaro, E.F. (1995) Science and Medicine (Scientific American), MDX Health Digest. 2, 1, 38- 47.

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