High-profile cases of murder, rape, and pedophilia have focused Canadians’ attention on the issue of violence, but are the people who commit these crimes really that different from the rest of us? In The Breaking Point, Montreal science writer and broadcaster Nicholas Regush argues that “they” are “us,” with a few circuits firing differently.

He believes we’ve become a society that, through racism and inequality, generates a steady stream of violent offenders. We can point the finger at the media, the availability of weapons, the breakdown of traditional morality, but the real answer is inside our skulls.

The brain is a sensitive organ. Anything that hurts it can skew an individual’s ability to function as a social being. Regush argues that violence is a universal, genetic propensity that evolved millions of years ago as a means of self-defence. Our inherent “animal” instincts are now generally hidden by the veneer of modern, civilized society, he says, but emerge when we feel threatened.

These threats can come from the behaviour of other people, or from the long-term, grinding violence of racism or humiliation. Such emotional or physical assaults can, Regush argues, directly affect the way the brain works. The research he cites shows that the brain’s chemistry can be altered by poor nourishment, for example, resulting in a reaction similar to when a person feels threatened.

Regush’s observations are on the cutting edge of forensic psychiatry. This book explains new research on brain injuries, and the hope (or lack of it) offered by new drugs. He suggests that although some people may be helped by neurochemistry treatment, many violent offenders can’t be cured. Prevention, it seems, is still the answer.

The Breaking Point will appeal to psychologists, lawyers, police, and the general reader interested in the debate on violence in society. The writing is clear and concise, the issues raised are timely, and it’s unlikely that its solid conclusions will soon be challenged by new research.

This book offers plenty of evidence to reinforce the idea that it will take more than just extra prisons to control violence. But for the author’s ideas on prevention to be implemented, our society would have to overturn its beliefs about crime and discard many concepts of individual morality. We would also have to shed long-held views of both the political right and left on things such as gun control, media portrayal of violence, incarceration, and rights regarding choice of psychiatric treatment. The Breaking Point is a valuable starting point for the long process of necessary change – something that won’t happen without a fight.