Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic

So many people in the Women's Movement talk about Gilligan's wife Carol - and for good reason. Now I am finding James Gilligan equally great. A shrink who ran the treatment programs for violent offenders in prison, Gilligan makes a case against punishment. What you say?Against punishment. Indeed, Gilligan sees violence and crime as a medical problem, a national epidemic, not a matter of inflicting more harm as punishment. Understanding its causes says Gilligan has nothing to do with dismissing the harm done to victims - but without understanding there is no hope of putting an end to it.Restraint from harming others or yourself he's all for - but the moral judgement stuff of punishment just causes more violence in the end. Judgment, leading to humiliation, leading to shame, leading to more violence. The whole sad, all-too-familiar cycle: what Gilligan calls redemptive violence - the violence we feel will attain "justice" and make us whole again.He also makes a distinction between violence you can see - behavioural violence: murder, suicide, war, and structural violence and the way caste systems work - He quotes Gandhi that poverty is the worst form of violence there is.

This book is eye opening. It reveals with powerful and blunt force how much the events of a criminals childhood effects who he/she is when he grows up. There are things in this book that will leave you wanting to put the book down because of their graphic nature. The things the criminals/victims have endured will make you so angry and sad at the same time that you will be inspired to make a difference in the lives of those who have become the dangerous people they were taught to be by their role models and the people they trusted to give them the guidance they needed to grow into normal adults.Read this book if you are ready to take in the truth and be enlightened to a gruesome reality, violence is largely the result of the violence we are subject to. Maybe it's time for us to stop blaming violent people for being violent and create programs and environments that CHANGE it!

This book helped me a lot in my thinking about a death threat that a young man directed at me. I was so frightened by this event that I was diagnosed with PTSD, and the symptoms have continued 18 months after the threat. When the Virginia Tech shootings happened, I found myself thinking obsessively about young men and violence: what causes young men to do these things? This book answered my questions in a way that has finally enabled me to get some closure on my own traumatic experience.Gilligan traces violence to overwhelming shame, which he in turn traces back to multiple causes: poverty, poor self esteem, assymmetrical gender roles, and child abuse and neglect. It's a complicated argument, but it boils down to this: young men whose self-esteem is poor for whatever reason find themselves unable to shrug off sometimes very trivial insults to their honor and self-respect and dignity, and they feel there is no way to regain it except through physical violence. Gilligan also believes that underlying this shame, there is often a deep wish to be dependent and cared for as if one were a child, but that wish is itself shaming. Violent men often re-offend in order to be re-admitted to prison, where they are taken care of, and this way they get their dependency needs met while also appearing mean, tough, and macho.All of this rings true in my experiences with violent young men. There may not be much we can do about the young men who are already so damaged that they must be quarantined to protect other people from their violence, but knowing what Gilligan knows can help us stop creating more of these destructive men. The United States has more of them proportionally than any other developed country, and Gilligan is eloquent on the causes for our epidemic of violence.

While I don't agree with Gilligan on every point, he makes a thoughtfully thorough case that is both impressive and encouraging. I think everyone should read it!

Tremendous book. Had to buy it for a class on violence and would buy it again it is that incredible.

Very important in the fight for criminal justice reform.

Very interesting read, I found his theory of violence convincing. Although like others I don't think Gilligan claimed that shame was the only cause of violence and always led to violence. His explanation of structural and behavioral violence was well put in that structural violence is often the cause of behavioral violence, but because structural violence is indirect, its effects are unknown to most people. As a result most people a quick to jump the gun and see the violent offenders directly responsible and the cause of their behavior, and often using the religious notion of evil. Gilligan Does a god job of linking these issues to the route of the problem which is the structure of the system itself.

An utterly powerful and underrepresented voice. So many well-intentioned, generally compassionate folks are quick to turn on those who need it the most, write them off as monsters and close the door. I stumbled on this because of Jon Ronson's work on shame, also recommended, but Violence is more of a lifetime achievement book of great importance. So rare. If you are not hooked after the first chapter, read on. Thank you, James.

Although this book was written 20 years ago, it remains utterly contemporary. It has changed the way l have understood violent behaviour completely, for the better. The comparison of prison with the wider world outside is chilling but quite true. At this time of an impending new US president in the form of Donald Trump, it is a particularly compelling read. Anyone with even a vague interest in how human beings are emotionally damaged, or indeed is manipulated,should read this.

I think this book is a must for anyone who is interested in understanding violence. I learned a lot. The author ash met and talked with many people in various prisons who have committed hideous crimes, in some cases mutilating their victims, in a effort to understand what brought them to do what they did.He points us towards a different way of thinking about violence and what we might do about it in the future.An excellent book.

Excellently written, welcoming to lay-people, it is a journey through prisons, violence and the destructive power of shame.Intense and unforgiving.

James Gilligan sets out to explore and explain the roots of violence. Far from being a natural product of human evolution, violence in our communities is more analogious to a desease. When viewed as an issue of public health, Gilligan shows that environment breeds violence. Violent men are created by their experiences in childhood, where they have received and witnessed abuse. Change can only come when we stop punishing and instead work at understanding. This is not the same as 'excusing'. Violent men are responsible for their actions in the here and now. However, if we treat violence as a disease, not only do we give appropriate treatment to the patient, we also look at addressing the environment in which this disease was able to breed. Interestingly, Gilligan acted as a consultant to Tony Blair and the Labour party prior to their election in the '90's. It is sad to see how Blair ditched the wisdom of Gilligan's insights in favour of a stance that was more 'voter friendly'.I highly recomend this book!

Great writer. Great condition of a book. Good price.