Athens, Lonnie: Interaction and Violence

Yu-Hsu (Gail) Hsiao

Lonnie Athens—the “maverick criminologist” (Rhodes, 1999)—grew up in a violent environment and was a victim of domestic violence. Thus, it may not be surprising that Athens developed an interest in criminology and believed that he could make some contributions in the studies of violence. Athens was determined to find the key to unlock the mystery of why some people act violently and how dangerous violent criminals are created (Rhodes, 1999). Athens entered the field of criminology in the late 1960s to the 1970s. During that time, many criminological theories were published. Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti, based on their examinations of social environmental factors, developed the subculture of violence theory. They acknowledged that the subculture of violence usually exists in the lower socio-economic class, and the members of the subculture internalize violence as the common attitude and norm to resolve disputes (Athens, 1992). In addition, Sarnoff Mednick, a bio-social criminologist, ...

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