Is Criminal Violence Normative Behavior?

Abstract

Analyses of criminal violence often fail to draw the important distinction between angry and instrumental aggression. The former is directed mainly toward the injury of the intended target, whereas the latter is instrumental to attaining another goal such as social approval. Various conceptions, including the subculture of violence idea, assume that many violent acts are instrumental aggression, although they may actually be, in large part, angry outbursts in tended primarily to hurt rather than to gain approval. Interviews with sixty five white British violent offenders are used to document this thesis. The role of ego threats is also discussed.