Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley: Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence

Ghosts from the Nursery takes a unique look at violence among juveniles by examining issues that lie underneath the surface of what we usually see portrayed in the media. What sets it apart from other articles or books that tackle the problem is that it does not just look at the obvious complications that everyone else sees when watching, hearing, or reading about an incident. While the problems usually focused on, such as a child possessing a firearm, not having a lot of friends, not having a stable family life, etc. are important, Karr-Morse and Wiley look at other factors that are not examined as much as they should be. The authors examine the numerous influences in the beginning stages of life, and not just the time surrounding the incident that got youth in trouble. For example, what surrounded the child while he or she was in gestation? Did something happen in their childhood that caused a neurological imbalance that they could not overcome later in life? Were there traumatic experiences caused by people in their lives? Were they exposed to a chemical substance that altered their brain chemistry? These are just some of the myriad issues that, according to the authors’ research, could be the cause or root of the problems that sprout throughout life as children grow up. The authors also use a boy, called “Jeffrey” in the book, to give a real life example of how some of these “ghosts” can manifest themselves through a child’s life, and how society can be so oblivious to the real issues that lie just underneath the surface. …