On the Need for a Biopsychosocial Victimology: A Foundational Model for Focusing Violence Prevention on Women and Children

Abstract

ABSTRACTCriminology has traditionally been primarily focused on adolescent male criminality given the perception that most violent crime is perpetrated by boys in their early teens. However, this view neglects the considerable amount of evidence that violent behavior is manifest very early in the life course and that risk factors for violent behavior exist even earlier when the child is in utero. Therefore, violence prevention must concentrate heavily on biological and psychosocial processes early in human development. One profitable avenue is to refocus crime prevention efforts on the needs of mothers and their children. The authors develop and present a biopsychosocial model for violence prevention and intervention that emphasizes the needs of expectant and new mothers along with their children. Policies and programs that address early victimization and the biological and sociological impact of victimization are specifically discussed as mechanisms of violence reduction.