Violence Rewired

Richard Whittington is a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and is based at the Brøset Centre for Research and Education in Forensic Psychiatry, St. Olav's University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway. He is a psychologist with a focus on violence prevention and mental health and is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool. James McGuire is Emeritus Professor of Forensic Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool. He is also an expert witness in criminal courts and mental health tribunals, a consultant for criminal justice agencies in thirteen countries, and winner of the 2012 Research Prize from the International Corrections and Prisons Association.

'Violence Rewired is ground-breaking for its scope and rigour that takes us on a journey from our primate past to a potentially peaceful future. It dispels myths around our 'true nature' in a convincingly scientific and scholarly way that suits audiences ranging from nurses, judicial scholars, students to the scientifically curious.' Devon Polaschek, Joint Director of the New Zealand Institute for Security and Crime Science, University of Waikato, New Zealand

• Foreword. Between chimpanzees and bonobos: the challenge of violence prevention; Part I. Origins: 1. The prospect of human violence: pessimism or realism?; 2. The roots of human violence: in search of the 'hard wired'; 3. The biology of violence: possibilities and limitations; 4. Developmental factors in violence propensity: the learning of violence; 5. Structural violence: social and political factors in understanding violence; Part II. Solutions: 6. Advancing a global public health response to violence; 7. Risk assessment: can violence be predicted?; 8. Pharmaceutical interventions: medication, violence and the public health; 9. Psychosocial interventions: the unlearning of violence; 10. Changing structures: integrated interventions for violence; Conclusion; Appendix. Major UN initiatives to address violence 1986–2018.