Violence : reflections on our deadliest epidemic /
James Gilligan.
- 306 pages ; 24 cm.
- Forensic focus ; 18 .
- Forensic focus ; 18. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-294) and index.
Prologue: Violence as Tragedy -- Ch. 1. Visits to Hell: Entering the World of the Prison -- Ch. 2. Dead Souls -- Ch. 3. Violent Action as Symbolic Language: Myth, Ritual, and Tragedy -- Ch. 4. How to Think About Violence -- Ch. 5. Shame: The Emotions and Morality of Violence -- Ch. 6. The Symbolism of Punishment -- Ch. 7. How to Increase the Rate of Violence - and Why -- Ch. 8. The Deadliest Form of Violence Is Poverty -- Ch. 9. The Biology of Violence -- Ch. 10. Culture, Gender, and Violence: "We Are Not Women" -- Epilogue: Civilization and Its Malcontents.
"James Gilligan lays the foundation for a complete re-thinking of the nature and meaning of violence in society. He reveals the motives of men who commit horrifying crimes, men who not only kill other people, but also destroy themselves rather than suffer shame and loss of self-respect. He focuses on how feelings of shame cause violent and vengeful behaviour, and argues that conventional punitive legal and penal systems perpetuate violent behaviour. After his time in the Massachusetts prison system the high rates of suicide and murder within the state prisons there had dropped almost to zero."--BOOK JACKET.