Violent Offenders: Theory, Research, Public Policy and Practice provides the latest information to help students understand the many different types of violent offenders we hear about in the media daily, from homicide and sex offenders to financial predators and street criminals to serial killers and career criminals. The authors have compiled original scholarship from an international collection of applied and academic criminologists to provide students with a realistic and cutting-edge view of why people commit violent crimes and how our criminal justice system, as a whole, responds to these offenders and these violent acts. The text is divided into three sections. Part one covers the theoretical and disciplinary foundations of the study of violent behavior, spanning the disciplines of sociology, psychology, biology, and neuroscience. Part two discusses empirical and topical linkages to criminological subjects, including homicide offenders and victims, sex offenders, and gang members. Part three explores public policy and practical applications describing the various ways that criminal justice systems respond to violent offenders from the insightful perspectives of people who work among violent offenders on a daily basis.