The narrative begins with the experiences of Willie Bosket's first known American ancestors, who were slaves in Edgefield, S.C., where white men would fight to the death over small violations of their honor. This concept of honor is described as the foundation for the lethal consequences of demands for respect in today's urban areas. The narrative recounts the violence experienced by slaves, the problems experienced by sharecroppers after emancipation, the lynching of black men for alleged acts of impudence, and the moves of the Bosket family first to a Georgia city and then to the urban North. It describes how Willie Bosket and his father were each first incarcerated at age 9 and how each was ultimately convicted of murder. Willie Bosket, whose IQ is at the genius level, reported that he had committed 200 armed robberies and 25 stabbings by the time he reached adolescence. In his 15th year he shot and killed two men on a New York City subway; at age 25 he stabbed a prison guard he did not know. Constantly manacled because he is considered extremely dangerous, Bosket has been considered the most violent criminal in New York State history. The discussion concludes that while more prisons and longer sentences will not solve the problem of violence, more effective and less expensive interventions are available. Reference notes and index