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 show more 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. show less

A fascinating look at the impact the philosophies of the two major parties have on the lives of people. The emphasis on explanation of his analysis and the statistics its based on can be a bit dry, but I understand why it is necessary.

I was especially struck by the discussion of the two moralities, guilt and shame. If you retain nothing else from the book, that is worth reading it.

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 show more 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. show less

somewhat dated but still a very strong argument that shame is the source of all violence