This book shows how to use biopsychosocial assessment for crime prevention and to achieve more individualized treatment for those who commit crimes. Author Anthony Walsh, a prominent figure in biosocial criminology for more than four decades, examines the treatment policy recommendations of major criminological theories and how they might be improved by integrating relevant biopsychosocial insights. Walsh contends that sound crime prevention and treatment policies must be based on empirical evidence derived from theories about the causes of crime if they are to reduce incarceration rates. The biopsychosocial perspective improves on traditional theories by examining all putative causes of crime from the micro to the macro—from neurons to neighborhoods—and should thus improve prevention and treatment efforts.

The understanding of the genetic, neurobiological, and physiological components of antisocial behavior has improved exponentially over the past three decades. The relevant biological measures (e.g., genotyping, hormone assays, autonomic system arousal levels, resting heart rates) are routinely examined in university labs for research purposes. This book shows how measures of these components can be fruitfully integrated into the Risk-Needs-Responsivity model of offender treatment.

Offering a fresh perspective, this book is essential for both scholars and practitioners wishing to explore treatment modalities that consider the biological aspects of criminality.

Anthony Walsh is a professor emeritus of criminology at Boise State University. He has taught biosocial criminology, statistics, and philosophy of law there for 34 years. He received his Ph.D. in criminology from Bowling Green State University in 1983. He worked as a marine, merchant seaman, police officer, and probation officer before entering academia at the age of 44. He is widely published, with 55 books and over 150 articles and book chapters on a variety of topics including biosocial aspects of crime and natural theology. He has received the Boise State Foundation Scholar Award for Research and lifetime achievement awards from both the Biosocial Criminology Association and the Biopsychosocial Division of the American Society of Criminology for his research in biosocial criminology. His work has been featured on the Phil Donahue Show, Nova, and Nippon (Japanese) TV.