The central theme of the book is that violence is a self-destructive behavior that may be justified at the individual level, but makes no sense from the standpoint of society in general. Violence is aggressive behavior with the intent to cause harm physically or psychologically. Although animals engage in instrumental aggression, only humans engage in hostile aggression. Hostile aggression appears to involve significantly different causes and risk factors. A new third type of violence is called impulsive or stimulus-seeking violence. Some individuals constantly crave dangerous and risky situations because of chronic nervous system under-arousal. Family violence is hostile aggression between people that are intimately involved with each other. Violence is costly to society in the form of medical costs, lost productivity, criminal justice services, financial support of the victims, and the prosecution and incarceration of offenders. The most common type of violence is in the family. Criminalizing family violence has been controversial because all families have conflicts; members of the family feel embarrassed by the violence in the family; some aggression in the family is legal and acceptable; and most publicized cases deal with male perpetrators and female and child victims. General issues dealt with in this book are the incidence, social causes, biological and psychological bases, development factors and social learning, media exposure, and biosocial model of violence. Special issues covered are substance abuse and violent behavior, youth violence, sexual assault, spouse homicide, child abuse and physical punishment, victims, and preventing and controlling violence. References, indexes