“You’ll notice what they have in common is between the legs. Is this why wars are fought?” This Margaret Atwood quotation is used by Neil Boyd, professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, as a chapter epigraph in his engaging new book on why men are especially prone to violence. The Beast Within introduces its major ideas to the general reader with flair and a good deal of lively and accessible information from recent psychology research.

The major premise is that maleness really does make for violence. Boyd argues that men are 10 times more likely than women to commit murder, both in communities like Newfoundland – where murder is rare – and in communities like Washington, D.C., where it is 50 times more common. The difference between male and female propensities to kill cannot be explained solely by upbringing and environment. Boyd acknowledges that this claim is controversial, but recent scientific evidence suggests that for the most part he is correct.

His second major claim is that male violence is connected to sexuality. His position is provocative, but the evidence here is thinner. Boyd notes that men commit most violent crime in their early 20s, when they are sexually most active – but although most men become sexually active, only a small proportion of them commit violent crime.

Boyd’s last chapter is called “Calming the Beast.” Although he discusses possible medical remedies, he argues that for now societal arrangements must suffice. What are his suggestions? Stop glorifying violence; discourage excessive drinking of alcohol; continue to make guns difficult to obtain. Perhaps most importantly, he sensibly argues that we should regard male children as especially at risk, in need of support. Very aggressive boys are at risk of growing into delinquent teenagers, then violent adults. Support for parenting, early interventions, and mediation of disputes at schools are more effective and less costly than the way we usually deal with violent people – by putting them in prison once they have committed some destructive crime as adults.