Men and women who go to prison are poor and involved in violence. This article explores the connection between poverty and violence for a sample of former prisoners who left incarceration and settled in the Boston area. Analysis of life history data indicates that violence arises in poor contexts across the life course because they are often chaotic and lack informal sources of social control; under these conditions, violence often comes to be positively valued. This situational perspective on violence diverges from the criminal justice perspective, in which offenders and victims represent distinct classes of people and punishment involves the assessment of individual culpability.

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life history data violence culpability criminal justice

Bruce Western,.Lifetimes of Violence in a Sample of Released Prisoners. 1 (2),.

Bruce Western,"Lifetimes of Violence in a Sample of Released Prisoners" 1

Bruce Western,"Lifetimes of Violence in a Sample of Released Prisoners"