Looking into the Eyes of a Killer: A Psychiatrist’s Journey through the Murderer’s World - Hardcover

Ross, Drew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0306457911 ISBN 13: 9780306457913

Publisher: Springer, 1998

Synopsis

From 1990-1997, the author served as a forensic psychiatrist for the criminal justice system. His job was to judge the "sanity" of people charged with murder. He explores the many contradictions and misconceptions surrounding insanity and blame in thoughtful vignettes about inmates he counseled in hospitals for the criminally insane. He looks at the degree to which murder is aberrant and reveals how killers are not always so different from the rest of us. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

About this title

Review:

Looking into the Eyes of a Killer is written in an unassuming style--short sentences making deceptively plain statements. At first it seems almost dry. But as forensic psychiatrist Drew Ross paints one picture after another of the violent patients he has interviewed and come to understand (as well as anyone can), the book gains momentum. He writes about potentially sensational matters, such as the depth of a murderer's thirst for blood or the crazy system of justice and punishment in the United States, in an evenhanded way that is all the more powerful for being unadorned. He presents startling cases, such as a very intelligent paranoid woman who hisses like a snake at those who disagree with her, in a matter-of-fact tone that sends chills up the spine. He avoids medical and psychiatric jargon. By the time Ross has taken us through 24 short personal essays, each presenting a riddle or an insight about the nature of the murderous mind, he has achieved something rare indeed: the wisdom of perfectly posed questions. This is a rich, provocative book--sure to be a classic on the topic of violence. --Fiona Webster

From the Back Cover:

Drew Ross explores the many contradictions and misconceptions that prevail when juries and judges evaluate insanity pleas and issues of blame. From 1990-1997, Ross served as a forensic psychiatrist for the criminal justice system. His job was to judge the "sanity" of people charged with murder. The law requires black and white answers: Did someone kill because of a psychosis? Should he or she be confined to a prison or to a mental hospital? What makes a person into a killer? In session after session, Ross was drawn into the killers' - and their victims' - nightmares. Unfortunately his training had taught him that the human mind is more complex than the law would allow, and little by little, he began to find his role unbearable. Looking into the Eyes of a Killer details one man's journey into the darkness of the human psyche and the evils of a system. Examining the record and searching his own soul, Ross looks at the degree to which murder is aberrant and chillingly reveals how killers are not always so different from the rest of us. Never falling prey to easy solutions, he makes a compelling argument for new guidelines for dealing with violent criminals, and shows how our failure to "reform" them springs from our unwillingness to confront ourselves.

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0306457911
• ISBN 13: 9780306457913
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 271