Listening to Killers

Starred review from February 15, 2015

Garbarino (Maude C. Clarke Chair in Humanistic Psychology, Loyola Univ., Chicago) is perhaps the preeminent expert on childhood abuse and trauma as formative factors leading to adult violence. He is also an experienced psychological expert witness in murder trials. This inviting investigation expands upon the convincing arguments the author made in 1999's Lost Boys. He introduces the practice of "listening to killers," rather than judging them precipitately. Employing powerful case studies of murderers, Garbarino explores the dark psychological recesses of their pasts and cites the prevalence of horrific physical and sexual abuse in their histories. Even more poignant, though, is his comparison of these offenders to children who grow up in a war zone. This sort of unceasing, pervasive trauma generates dissociation and other defense mechanisms that may save their lives but destroy their psyches in the process. Thus, as expert witness, Garbarino can introduce valid psychological evidence as a mitigating factor for sentencing purposes. VERDICT This book should become the definitive text on the subject. Indispensable for readers of works such as Judith Herman's Trauma and Recovery.--Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown

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