On July 12, 2022 SWIM and WCS hosted an event for the film Why They Kill. Based on the critically acclaimed book by the Pulitzer Prize winning author, Richard Rhodes, Why They Kill, directed by Giuseppe M. Fazari, is an award-winning documentary that explores how violent criminals develop, how violent communities are created and transformed, and how violent acts are committed and prevented. This feature documentary elucidates how this four-stage “violentization” process – the theory developed by the renowned criminologist, Lonnie H. Athens, D.Crim. – unfolds and the strategies in preventing and breaking the cycle by reshaping “phantom communities”. The film underscores and addresses the importance of the intersection among community organizations and institutions, including courts, schools, police, and families, and the need for these critical stakeholders to collaborate in an individual’s developmental period.
After the film, Dr. Fazari presented a more indepth look into the "phantom community" and then was joined by Milwaukee county Police Chief Jeffrey Norman, Milwaukee County DA John T. Chisolm, and community activist Torre Johnson for a panel discussion on ways to help end the violentization process in Milwaukee.
See the TMJ4 article here
