The encyclopedia covers statistics on crime rates and trends, possible crime causes, criminal psychology, effects of crime on victims, punishment, legal issues, and violence prevention strategies. The author scrutinizes statistical evidence on violence, as well as sociocultural and psychological roots of violence and responses to it by the health, law enforcement, judicial, and prison systems. She specifically looks at the drug trade, hate crimes, child abuse, campus violence, gun availability, the existence of a "criminal" mind, police and prosecutorial procedures, and crime statistics. Extensive appendixes contain a wealth of information, including addresses and phone numbers of organizations involved in preventing violence and assisting victims of child abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, rape, and other violent crimes.