Natural Born Killers
Course Description:
Despite the relative steady decline in violent crime perpetration, generally, and by young males,
specifically, young males remain responsible for a majority of the violent crimes committed in the United
States. This course explores possible factors that may influence young males to engage in violent crime by
looking at the relative influence of nature (i.e., Are they are “natural born killers?”) and nurture (i.e., Are
they “breaking bad?”). Because Justice Studies is a very broad and interdisciplinary field of study, this
topic can be approached from many perspectives. The overarching perspective that will be adopted here
comes from developmental psychology. However, other perspectives may be introduced, including legal
perspectives.

This course is designed to examine individual factors (e.g., neurobiology, resilience, emotional development; hyper-masculinity, spirituality)
and environmental factors, both familial (e.g., parenting, discipline, abuse) and extra-familial (e.g., peer relationships, neighborhood, society)
associated with violence and delinquency in adolescent males.