James Gilligan, M.D., is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor in the School of Law at New York University. He is a former president of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy. An expert in the field of violence, he has published several books including Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic, Preventing Violence: Prospects for Tomorrow, and Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others. As a faculty member of the Harvard Medical School for many years, he headed the Institute of Law and Psychiatry and directed mental health services for the Massachusetts prisons and prison mental hospital. Dr. Gilligan also served as an expert witness in the Supreme Court case of Plata V. Brown.
Dr. James Gilligan approaches violence prevention from a public health, preventive medicine standpoint. He draws a parallel between preventing violence and preventing disease, describing the three steps of violence prevention in the medical terms of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. He discusses the most effective methods of treating violence and reducing recidivism. Dr. Gilligan contends, “There is no human being who cannot be reached at some level or another if you have the dedication and the patience.”
