cover image The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime

The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime

Michael H. Stone and Gary Brucato. Prometheus Books, $18 trade paper (512p) ISBN 978-1-63388-532-5

Clinical psychiatrist Stone and clinical psychologist Brucato revisit the Gradations of Evil scale, first introduced in Stone’s The Anatomy of Evil. The scale, Stone explains, is a tool used to measure the hierarchy of human depravity behind violent acts (from justifiable violence to torture murder)­. Stone’s central thesis posits that evil is real and human, and that by studying and quantifying evil acts, more might be done to prevent them. The authors also present the arguable notion that the rise in certain forms of violent crime, including “murder with extreme sadism” and “serial sexual homicide,” can be traced to changing social norms in the 1960s, notably as an insidious backlash to the feminist movement. Additionally, Stone and Brucato explore the impact of the internet and social media on criminality and more modern phenomenons such as spree killings and school shootings. The vignette-style narratives provide fascinating, disturbing, and, at times, wearisome descriptions of perpetrators and their crimes. But despite the concentration on brutality, the authors are earnest in their efforts to understand the darkest of human impulses. Budding criminologists will find this a useful resource for study and contemplation, while true crime enthusiasts will be riveted by the assiduous prodding into the criminal mind. Agent: Alice Martell, The Martell Agency. [em](Mar.) [/em]

Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly identified Gary Brucato as a clinical psychiatrist.