At the heart of the book is a reevaluation of three research projects on violence begun and abandoned in the 1970's in the midst of considerable political and scientific furor. These projects were an attempt in Los Angeles to organize a center to study violence, a program to study techniques of behavior modification in Federal prisons, and a prospective study of boys with sex chromosome abnormalities in Boston. Another paper analyzes the reasons behind the controversies associated with these programs, including (1) the role of genetically mediated characteristics of human behavior, (2) the morality of modifying behavior by medical or psychological means, (3) the power of social control offered by the new biomedical and behavioral technologies, and (4) the power relationship inherent in situations and settings where freedom of choice to participate in research cannot be taken for granted. Other chapters consider the history and sociology of violence in America, including ways Americans have legitimized and domesticated violence; the perennial difficulties scientists have encountered in their research on violence; the love-hate relationship between American liberals and the idea of correctional psychiatry; and the pros and cons of Federal involvement in scientific studies of violence. Opinions and approaches are varied among the book's contributors. A penologist suggests that violence is rooted in human nature, while a philosopher holds that some larger control over academic research on violence may be justified. Chapter footnotes and a subject index are provided.