James Gilligan

I was prompted to read this book by watching the movie "Shutter Island". I believe the author was a consultant for the movie, and the character played by Ben Kingsley was *very* loosely based upon him, from a professional point of view. The character in the movie does convey one of the central messages of this book, that in order to prevent the incidence of violence you must understand its causes, and -- this is the important part -- this includes the consideration of what the violence means to the perpetrator, that the most seemingly senseless acts of violence have a logic when considered from the perpetrator's point of view. The evaluation of someone who commits violence should not be limited to distinction between "mad" (he's crazy so his actions make no sense and motivations aren't relevant to sensible society) and "bad" (he's chosen an evil path in life so, again, his motivations aren't relevant to sensible society). Both of these categories are inherently dismissive, and not conducive to gaining understanding of why violence happens and what can therefore be done to reduce its incidence. For me this was a novel perspective and thought-provoking. The author goes through several abbreviated descriptions of patients/inmates/prisoners he has evaluated and treated and arrives at conclusions about their crimes that were, for me, unexpected.… (mehr)

This book was ridiculous. It was written by a Massachusetts state prison psychologist and helps illustrate what is wrong with Massachusetts as a whole. He advocates coddling criminals and refuses to accept that some people are just bad.…that there is nothing you can do to change them or make them behave in a socially acceptable way. The author advocates what so many other Massachusetts residents advocate instead, more social entitlement programs, more money thrown at undeserving people and more hugs for felons. The "real life" criminals he describes are unrealistic and sound utterly contrived. In summary, this book reads like a limousine-liberals wet dream, it does *not* read like a realistic solution to any of our social problems.… (mehr)