Violent natures
Psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead invites us to rethink our views on crime and punishment
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I’ve worked with perpetrators of violence for over 30 years as a forensic psychiatrist and a psychotherapist, so the title of my Reith Lectures this year is Four Questions about Violence. In each, I try to cover a question I’m commonly asked.
In the first lecture, I explore whether violence is natural and normal for humans – and conclude that it isn’t. The majority of humans aren’t violent towards each other. In fact, violence is an unusual way for people to break the law, and rates of criminal violence have been dropping (in Europe at least) over the past 60 years. That doesn’t mean that violence isn’t a problem; rather, the fact it is an unusual and complex problem should make us take it more seriously not less.
I’d emphasise that there are different kinds of violence. I’m speaking from the perspective of individual perpetrators, rather than social violence by groups, either within societies or between countries. In my experience, social violence, like the riots in the summer, involves many factors, not just individual psychology. But I do think individual violence and social violence have this in common – they’re distorted and disturbing variations of communication. As one of my patients once said to me, “I think people are violent when they have no voice.”
He also said his violence was driven by feelings of shame, hatred and despair; and that may have been true for some of the 2024 rioters. But it’s important to note how many of the rioters were unlike the people I work with, either in prisons or secure hospitals. Many were well educated, employed, monied, with good relationships. I think many were people who allowed themselves to be taken over by emotions of hatred and entitlement. This is something I discuss in my second lecture, where I suggest we all have the capacity to get into “cruel and unusual” states of mind – that’s why we are all so interested in true crime, and dramas about violent tragedies; like Ancient Greek plays and Shakespeare.
A patient said people are violent when they have no voice
I’m extremely grateful to the Ministry of Justice for giving me an opportunity to give my third lecture about the relationship between trauma and violence in a male prison, which has provided a therapeutic community programme as part of their offender rehabilitation for over 50 years. Therapeutic communities work by requiring prisoners to attend in-depth group therapy three times a week and participate in other psychoeducational activities. These interventions have been shown to help people take responsibility for their actions and be more “prosocial” in future; and are effective in reducing the risk of recidivism on release.
Dr Gwen Adshead, a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, gives the 2024 Reith Lectures. BBC
Living in these communities is neither an easy nor a soft option because psychological therapy can be painful and hard as people recall their violence to others as well as their own distress. Offenders in these programmes are not excused or forgiven; they work hard on taking responsibility and for keeping themselves safe after release.
My last lecture is called Can We Change Violent Minds? The simple answer is, “Yes, we can.” We have evidence to prove it. It’s possible to rehabilitate some violence perpetrators so long as we have a good understanding of what their violence is about and what risk factors were operating at the time. When we offer rehabilitative interventions, they tend to be helpful. I discuss the value of restorative justice, which has been shown to be an effective intervention in bringing victims and perpetrators of violence together and helping perpetrators take ownership of their offending and also apologise for it.
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My lectures are an invitation to think about whether we need to approach the problem of violence in a different way. I especially want to invite people to let go of the idea that treating offenders badly in prison is a good idea; because research says it isn’t and could make violence worse. Letting go of punitive approaches doesn’t mean forgiving all violence or excusing it; just investing all that negative emotional energy into something more productive and creative; and it’s much cheaper economically.
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