By Nick Haslam
The Conversation
Originally published January 29, 2015
The psychologist David Lykken once wrote that most violent crime could be prevented by cryogenically freezing all males aged 12 to 28. Although this option might be appealing at times for high school teachers and parents of teenage boys, it has some fairly obvious problems. For one thing, 28-year-old men might react violently, after thawing out, when they realise they’ve been cheated of their youth.
More seriously, the cryogenic solution misses the point that a small minority of men commit the great majority of violent crime. Many of these men meet the diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder. People with this condition have a history of impulsive aggression, risk-taking and irresponsibility that extends back into childhood.
The entire article is here.
