Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley: Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence

Abstract

Ghosts from the Nursery takes a unique look at violence among juveniles by examining issues that lie underneath the surface of what we usually see portrayed in the media. What sets it apart from other articles or books that tackle the problem is that it does not just look at the obvious complications that everyone else sees when watching, hearing, or reading about an incident. While the problems usually focused on, such as a child possessing a firearm, not having a lot of friends, not having a stable family life, etc. are important, Karr-Morse and Wiley look at other factors that are not examined as much as they should be. The authors examine the numerous influences in the beginning stages of life, and not just the time surrounding the incident that got youth in trouble. For example, what surrounded the child while he or she was in gestation? Did something happen in their childhood that caused a neurological imbalance that they could not overcome later in life? Were there traumatic experiences caused by people in their lives? Were they exposed to a chemical substance that altered their brain chemistry? These are just some of the myriad issues that, according to the authors’ research, could be the cause or root of the problems that sprout throughout life as children grow up. The authors also use a boy, called ‘‘Jeffrey’’ in the book, to give a real life example of how some of these ‘‘ghosts’’ can manifest themselves through a child’s life, and how society can be so oblivious to the real issues that lie just underneath the surface. The first chapter gives a broad overview of the current crime trends in juvenile delinquency. They give the distinction between ‘‘hot’’ and ‘‘cold-blooded’’ crime, and how gestational aberrancies can be examined in order to see if there were indeed warning signs earlier on in the child’s life that could have predicted their behavior later on. Jeffrey, the boy (who is now a man) who was given the death penalty for his involvement in an incident where an elderly man was beaten to death when Jeffrey was 16 years old, is revealed to the reader to give a real life example of how early life experiences can manifest themselves. It also begins to discuss some of the causal factors often ignored when incidents involve juveniles. As discussed by the authors, key contributors to the lack of knowledge about the roots of violence are the media. If there is a horrific accident, say a shooting, the media will automatically herald the issue as a singular outburst, and one that has a specific, sudden cause. Karr-Morse and Wiley, on the other hand, argue that the issue can often times be traced back to the first 33 months of life. The reason they target this time period is because of how susceptible the child is during prenatal development, and the 2 years that follow. They briefly touch on how exposure to chronic stress, alcohol, drugs, or all of the above can genetically alter the DNA of a child during prenatal development, which could lead be possible explanatory variables for crimes later on in life. The topic of how genetics influences criminal behavior also comes into play. In the second chapter, the authors shed light on the argument for ‘‘critical periods’’ (Karr-Morse and Wiley 2013, p. 25). Critical periods are times in children’s lives where their brains are ready for specific types of stimulation. Some key illustrations would be language, sight, and emotional connections. Traits such as these need to be used and honed early in life in order to ensure that they will function properly when the child reaches maturation. Empirical research has solidified this claim since 1959, when & Robert Crawford robcrawf@indiana.edu