Steeped in a Culture of Violence: Murder, Racial Injustice, and Other Crimes in Texas, 1965–2020 ed. by Brandon T. Jett and Kenneth Howell (review)

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Reviewed by:

• Steeped in a Culture of Violence: Murder, Racial Injustice, and Other Crimes in Texas, 1965–2020 ed. by Brandon T. Jett and Kenneth Howell
• Vincent Giardino

Steeped in a Culture of Violence: Murder, Racial Injustice, and Other Crimes in Texas, 1965–2020. Ed. By Brandon T. Jett and Kenneth Howell. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2023. Pp. 280. Photographs, figures, table, bibliography, index.)

The editors and authors of Steeped in a Culture of Violence took on a perilous task for historians and academics: exploring the not-so-distant past. Many readers will have vivid memories of, and perhaps strong opinions concerning, events discussed in this book. However, if newspapers provide the first draft of history, this collection serves as a useful second draft. The contributors provide a detailed account of the reasons for, responses to, and early outcomes of Texas' present battle against violent crime. The collection is well-sourced and free of political bias.

The editors provide a concise review of violence in Texas, from native behavior before Cabeza de Vaca walked across the state up to the early 1960s. The contributors focus on their topics in turn: murder, intimate partner violence, hate crimes, racial violence, urban gangs, prison violence, and mass shootings—confining themselves to the last 55 years. One important chapter covers intimate partner violence, which has seen a dramatic shift in attitudes from the beginning of the studied period through today. Ashley Baggett details the work of early advocacy groups [End Page 361] and the slow transformation from the unspoken "private matter between a husband and wife" to the later understanding of the generational nature of intimate partner violence, and how it spreads beyond the home into the community. Another fascinating chapter is Mitchel Roth's survey of violence in the Texas prison system. He reviews the evolution from the previously denied practice of using older, more violent inmates as proxy guards to the cliques fighting for control of today's prison yards, and the homemade weapons used along the way.

The editors chose the mid-1960s as the starting point of this book but omit any review of the effects of deinstitutionalization and the broader understanding of mental illness and its impact on violent crime. County jail facilities have since become the largest mental health care centers in their communities, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) says more than a third of inmates in state and federal prisons have a history of mental illness. Professionals in law enforcement and criminal law can attest to the nexus between mental illness and violent crime. Though it is not always well-tracked or understood, better treatment for those with mental illness has gained the attention of policy-makers and interest groups, who have had varying degrees of success over the decades. The book does not suffer for it, but the topic would have made a valuable addition.

This work does not proselytize or offer policy prescriptions. This makes it a useful resource for not just historians, but also criminologists, law enforcement professionals, and lawmakers seeking to recognize the patterns of crime and punishment in Texas, without staying mired in the late nineteenth century. Steeped in a Culture of Violence is destined to be cited often in the years to come.

Vincent Giardino Fort Worth Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association ...