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Some of the most enduring structural theories of crime center on the existence of a criminal subculture. Several ecological theories have attempted to explain the etiology of subcultures, but few have endured the rigors of empirical investigation, and shortcomings of these perspectives remain. To date, subcultural theories have neglected to examine biological influences in explaining the formulation of criminal subcultures and their direct and indirect relationships with criminal behavior. This article offers a ‘new’ look at subcultural theories of crime by integrating biological factors into existing theories of social ecology and criminal behavior. Specifically, we focus on how the structural pressures of poverty, discrimination, concentrated violence, and high rates of emotional abuse lead to stress on the brain in the form of high allostatic load, over-activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, and an imbalance of …