American Evil

Description

American Evil deals with the ‘sordid’ world of serial killers, their calculating methods and distorted thinking, based around the author’s ground-breaking work as a prison psychologist, government advisor and consultant to three TV series including Voice of a Serial Killer.

Based on clinical experience of killers, American Evil includes a selection of USA/UK serial killer studies. Dr Eric Cullen exposes police and other failings and shortcomings and the perversity of ‘defences’, ‘excuses’, etc. He is strongly critical of USA gun laws and attitudes or perspectives making for an unhealthy environment, moral vacuum and lack of official/individual awareness and responsibility.

The book describes how the author was ‘so profoundly moved’ by his inescapable conclusions about how serial killers are ‘made’ that he was compelled to set out his findings. Bemoaning the serial killer ‘growth industry’, ‘unhealthy interest’ and ill-informed comment he sets the record straight.

His central polemic is that serial killers are one of several malign human by-products of a dysfunctional modern permissive society, overwhelmingly American, brought about by modern-day culture in the USA, lax moral standards as also reflected in other countries to the extent that they pursue a comparable way of life.

Reviews

‘Excellent … A highly readable text’– The Barrister.

‘I… completed your magnificent book in two sittings… It really is an excellent piece of work. That elusive beast of literature: something scholarly but also a page turner’– David Howard, Monster Films.

From the Introduction

‘The simple fact upon which much of my argument is based is that the USA has only 4.25% of the world’s population yet over two thirds of all the world’s known serial killers to date. I believe this is a direct result of the environment in which they are raised.’

Author

Dr Eric Cullen was born in Kentucky, USA. After emigrating to England he became a British citizen and worked in borstals and other penal establishments including Grendon Underwood (the UK’s ground-breaking therapeutic community (TC) prison). Later, he worked in the private sector, notably as lead consultant for Premier Prisons Ltd in their successful bid to build and run a new 200-bed TC for offenders at Dovegate Prison which opened in 2001. He has served as a magistrate, been a government advisor and written on related themes of murder, life imprisonment, treating personality disordered offenders, and TCs. He contributed to three acclaimed TV series including Voice of a Serial Killer, Voice of a Killer (both CBS Reality) and Making a Monster (Sky Crime + Investigation).