Looking Into the Eyes of a Killer : A Psychiatrist’s Journey through the Murderer’s World

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 counselled.

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.