Three groups of offenders were identified: 74 nonviolent offenders with no indication of violent behavior anywhere in their files; 343 offenders violent toward strangers who had histories of assault but no indication of violence toward their wives or other family members; and 177 family-violent offenders, the majority of whom had also assaulted nonfamily members. The analysis revealed significant differences among the three groups in experiences of abuse in the family of origin. While the nonviolent group had the least amount of abuse victimization and the stranger-violent group had a moderate amount, members of the family-violent group were most likely to have been abused. When more specific types of abuse (physical, sexual, and witnessing abuse) were examined, similar differences were found. Differences were also found in the types of psychiatric disorders. The family-violent group was more likely than the others to have nonpsychopathic types of personality disorders such as borderline or narcissistic personalities. Footnotes and figures