The New Evil
Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A CHILLING FOLLOW-UP TO THE POPULAR TRUE CRIME BOOK THE ANATOMY OF EVILRevisiting Dr. Michael Stone's groundbreaking 22-level Gradations of Evil Scale, a hierarchy of evil behavior first introduced in the book The Anatomy of Evil, Stone and Dr. Gary Brucato, a fellow violence and serious psychopathology expert, here provide even more detail, using dozens of cases to exemplify the categories along the continuum. The New Evil also presents compelling evidence that, since a cultural tipping-point in the 1960s, certain types of violent crime have emerged that in earlier decades never or very rarely occurred. The authors examine the biological and psychiatric factors behind serial killing, serial rape, torture, mass and spree murders, and other severe forms of violence. They persuasively argue that, in at least some cases, a collapse of moral faculties contributes to the commission of such heinous crimes, such that "evil" should be considered not only a valid area of inquiry, but, in our current cultural climate, an imperative one. They consider the effects of new technologies and sociological, cultural, and historical factors since the 1960s that may have set the stage for "the new evil." Further, they explain how personality, psychosis, and other qualities can meaningfully contribute to particular crimes, making for many different motives.Relying on their extensive clinical experience, and examination of writings and artwork by infamous serial killers, these experts offer many insights into the logic that drives horrible criminal behavior, and they discuss the hope that in the future such violence may be prevented.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Clinical psychiatrist Stone and clinical psychologist Brucato revisit the Gradations of Evil scale, first introduced in Stone's The Anatomy of Evil. The scale, Stone explains, is a tool used to measure the hierarchy of human depravity behind violent acts (from justifiable violence to torture murder) . Stone's central thesis posits that evil is real and human, and that by studying and quantifying evil acts, more might be done to prevent them. The authors also present the arguable notion that the rise in certain forms of violent crime, including "murder with extreme sadism" and "serial sexual homicide," can be traced to changing social norms in the 1960s, notably as an insidious backlash to the feminist movement. Additionally, Stone and Brucato explore the impact of the internet and social media on criminality and more modern phenomenons such as spree killings and school shootings. The vignette-style narratives provide fascinating, disturbing, and, at times, wearisome descriptions of perpetrators and their crimes. But despite the concentration on brutality, the authors are earnest in their efforts to understand the darkest of human impulses. Budding criminologists will find this a useful resource for study and contemplation, while true crime enthusiasts will be riveted by the assiduous prodding into the criminal mind.