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Human Nature and Crime Control: Improving the Feasibility of Nurturant Strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Bryan Vila
Bryan Vila*
Affiliation:
University of California—Irvine, USA
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Abstract

The same evolutionary and ecological principles that organize our understanding of organisms and organic communities can be used to help understand criminal behavior and our responses to it. This approach suggests solutions for an important dilemma that confronts the United States. The dilemma is that preoccupation with problems such as gang violence, drug abuse, and street crime increasingly diverts resources and attention away from child development problems associated with the health, education, and welfare of young people. Just as a consensus is emerging about the importance of balancing traditional criminal justice system approaches to crime control with nurturant approaches that address child development concerns, child development program resources are dwindling. This dynamic is driven by a vicious cycle of media sensationalism, political expediency, and public impatience that encourages ineffective “quick fixes” for crime. An evolutionary ecological approach to crime control suggests ways to reverse this vicious cycle and increase the political, programmatic, and economic feasibility of child development programs.

Type
Roundtable Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 1997 , pp. 3 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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