Prologue to Violence . Child Abuse , Dissociation

What transpires in the minds of violent criminals? Do their actions follow from uncontrollable impulses or simply reflect an absence of moral feeling? Abby Stein’s (2007) response is that violence is “...the inevitable outcome of severely damaging early interpersonal relationships” (p. 38). Her work as a forensic psychologist and Adjunct Associate Professor at the John Jay Criminal Justice program at City University of New York leads her to conclude that violence is shaped by massive trauma and dissociation. She seamlessly integrates psychoanalytic theory and her clinical work into a unique understanding of violent offenders. However, by according dissociation a central etiological role, Stein also makes a significant contribution to the current debate about this mechanism within contemporary psychoanalysis. Her sensitivity to the indicants of dissociated moral feeling in individuals widely regarded as conscienceless has important clinical and philosophical implications.