Pathologies of Attachment, Violence, and Criminality

The clinical and forensic investigation of the relationship between attachment, violence, and criminality is quite recent and very promising. This chapter summarizes the origins of attachment research, and explores the psychology of attachment as a biologically based, species-specific behavioral system which is present throughout the life cycle. Pathologies of attachment, moreover, such as the preoccupied, fearful, dismissive, and disorganized types, are being increasingly linked to intimate partner violence and other forms of violent criminality. Research in this area is explored, with particular attention paid to the work of Dutton, Fonagy, Holtzworth-Munroe, Gottman, and Babcock. The author suggests that four findings emerge: (1) insecure attachment is a risk factor for intimate partner violence and other violent criminality, (2) secure attachment may be a protective factor against violent criminality, especially when a child is raised in a deprived environment, (3) the “reflective function” may be an important mediating variable for understanding affective violence in particular, and (4) dismissive and disorganized pathologies of attachment may correlate, respectively, with constitutional and traumagenic pathways to violent criminality. New avenues of research are suggested by applying attachment theory and research to the specific “preoccupied” crime of stalking and the quite distinctive and dangerous character of the “dismissive” psychopath. Keywords: attachment; bonding; domestic violence; psychopathy; stalking; violence; violent criminality

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