Munro, Tom --- "Why they kill The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist by Richard Rhodes" [2000] AltLawJl 99; (2000) 25(5) Alternative Law Journal 259

• Reviews
• Why they kill
• The discoveries of a maverick criminologist

Reviews

Why they kill
The discoveries of a maverick criminologist

by Richard Rhodes; Knopf 1999; 286 pp; hard cover

Richard Rhodes seems to make his living by writing. Why They Kill is a reworking of a number of other texts that are summarised into chapters. Such a book can probably be cobbled together quickly and if it sells make a living for the author. The marketing pitch of the book is to have a new theory on violent crime. In the United States crime is a pre­ occupation of many and probably guarantees healthy sales.

The basis of the book is an examination of the theories of an obscure criminologist Lonnie Athens. As a young man Athens interviewed around 20 inmates of jails and developed a theory of violent crime. The theory is fairly simple and is basically that some people will spring from backgrounds in which there is violence. At a later point violence can be used to achieve goals. This will tend to become the norm for a person if their perceived reference group sees violence as legitimate. Athens' theory can be described in a paragraph; his book describing the theory is around I 00 pages. Rhodes is able to get a book out of it by describing Athens' life and by summarising some sensational murder cases.

The message of Why They Kill is that crime does not arise because of the availability of weapons and pockets of poverty. No, it derives because of the way some families interact. If you can remove violence from the home then poverty and guns do not matter. The violence derives from the moral failure of the parenting unit.

Rhodes tries to suggest that Athens' message has a core of truth in a number of ways. The main one is to say that

Athens had an insight into these things because of his own life. He grew up in a trailer trash family and experienced violence early. Rhodes suggests that this led him to his first study and his interest in criminals, and that he had a better understanding of crime than those namby pamby empiricists because he had lived on the rough side of town.

The reality of Athens' work is that it is very much a youthful work. He spoke to some 23 subjects selected by the jail authorities. It is clear that atypical people were chosen. Athens himself seems to have been in awe or actually scared of the people he spoke to. Reading the narratives of his subjects one can sense the joy that they would have had shocking the young student and playing games with him. No doubt academic journals in the United States have criticised his work for these reasons.

As most would know, murder is a phenomenon that generally occurs not after calculation and reasoned thought but on impulse. Most people who murder are young, often drunk and the act of violence is generally something later regretted. It tends to be something that occurs in areas of disadvantage. In Australia, Aboriginal communities have high homicide and victimisation rates. The removal of weapons from communities is a means of preventing more mi­ nor assaults becoming fatal.

In the United States there is considerable pressure to limit income redistribution and hysterical pressure to prevent weapons control. This is de­ spite the clear fact that gun control has massive and demonstrable effects on decreasing violent crime and suicide.

Rhodes's method is to look at what he describes as some 'case studies' to back up what he has suggested. One of his case studies fits. into the theoretical pattern. Mike Tyson grew up in a hard area and was bullied as a kid and abused by a step dad. He later developed an ability to use his fists and became a minor criminal and later a boxer. It is clear that violence was a central and instinctive part of his life and his poor socialisation led to him being imprisoned. Some of Rhodes' other examples are, however, bizarre.

Lee Harvey Oswald is no doubt seen as a figure of evil in America as he killed a popular president. His life, however, is more bizarre than criminal. He appears to have had one conviction for disorderly behaviour when he tried to intervene on behalf of some Afro-Americans who were being discriminated against on a bus. The suggestion that he was brutalised as a child is problematic.

An even more bizarre claim is made in regard to the life of Cheryl Crane the daughter of Lana Turner. Cheryl stabbed and killed one of her mother's lovers. A jury found she was not guilty of a criminal offence, and more recent material would suggest that her actions were legitimate and proportionate acts of self-defence. Another of her mother's partners had raped her and the person she killed was also violent. Cheryl never again was charged with an offence and it is difficult to think of her as a criminal at all. The reality is that Rhodes has included such stories more for sensational value than objective analysis.

All in all, Why They Kill is a superficial examination of some anecdotal material which has been presented in a sensational way to get some sales. It will be read by those who don't want to face their social responsibilities in paying taxes, and be seen as justifying their selfishness. Others who have some interest in the field will simply ignore it.

TOM MUNRO

Tom Munro is Principal Legal Officer at the Aboriginal Legal Service, Melbourne.