James Gilligan is an American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, husband of

Carol Gilligan Carol Gilligan (; born November 28, 1936) is an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist, best known for her work on ethical community and ethical relationships. Gilligan is a professor of Humanities and Applied Psychology at New York Unive ...

and best known for his series of books entitled ''Violence'', where he draws on 25 years of work in the American prison system to describe the motivation and causes behind violent behavior. During his career, Gilligan has served as director for the

Bridgewater State Hospital Bridgewater State Hospital, located in southeastern Massachusetts, is a state facility housing the criminally insane and those whose sanity is being evaluated for the criminal justice system. It was established in 1855 as an almshouse. It was t ...

for the criminally insane, director of mental health for the

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

prison system and as president of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy. He now lectures at the Department of Psychiatry,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. Gilligan is an adjunct professor at NYU Law and collegiate professor at NYU's College of Arts and Sciences. He has been on the faculty at NYU since 2002. Previously, Gilligan was a faculty member at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, where he worked from 1966 to 2000. In 1977 he became the director of the Harvard Institute of Law and Psychiatry. Gilligan was brought in as the medical director of the Massachusetts prison mental hospital in Bridgewater, Massachusetts because of the high suicide and murder rates within their prisons. When he left ten years later the rates of both had dropped to nearly zero. Gilligan served as the psychiatric adviser to

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

for the film, ''

Shutter Island ''Shutter Island'' is a novel by American writer Dennis Lehane, published by HarperCollins in April 2003. It is about a U.S. Marshal who goes to an isolated hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient who is ...

''.

Books authored

*''Violence - Our Deadly Epidemic and Its Causes'' – 1996 *''Violence - Reflections on a National Epidemic'' – 1997 *''Violence - Reflections on Our Deadliest Epidemic'' – 1999 *''Violence - Reflections on a Western Epidemic'' – 2000 *''Violence in California Prisons: A Proposal for Research into Patterns and Cures'' – 2000 *''Preventing Violence'' – 2001 *''Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous to Your Health Than Others'' – 2011 ()

Books authored

References

Further reading