is whether such people are inherently evil or whether they are sick. my guest today has spent more than three decades trying to treat some of the most violent offenders here in the uk. dr gwen adshead is a forensic psychiatrist as well as a psychotherapist, and has worked across a range of secure hospitals, prisons and in the community. why does she urge compassion and understanding for those who many brand as being simply evil? dr gwen adshead, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, zeinab. why did you decide to choose a career where you provide counselling and therapy to people who ve committed acts which many brand as simply being pure evil? well, i first got interested in this career because i was interested in law and ethics. that very interesting question of how should we treat people who ve done terrible things? so i started by assessing those people and giving evidence in court and really beginning to try and understand how people came to commit acts of violence. a
it s the first time in her career the 19 year old has lost the opening match of a grand slam event. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. how should society deal with the perpetrators of horrific crimes the child killers, the serial murderers, sadists and those who commit acts of extreme sexual violence? well, a starting point is whether such people are inherently evil or whether they are sick. my guest today has spent more than three decades trying to treat some of the most violent offenders here in the uk. dr gwen adshead is a forensic psychiatrist as well as a psychotherapist, and has worked across a range of secure hospitals, prisons and in the community. why does she urge compassion and understanding for those who many brand as being simply evil? dr gwen adshead, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, zeinab. why did you decide to choose a career where you provide counselling and therapy to people who ve committed acts which many bra
violence free in the future. and i think we should be working towards that. that is still a goal that s achievable for most violence perpetrators. and when it comes to very young criminals, and i m thinking particularly here of 1993, the case, the notorious case ofjamie bulger, who was killed, a two year old boy killed by two ten year olds. and at the time, they were the youngest people in english history to be convicted of murder. they were released at the age of 18. i mean, do you think that we should make exceptions for very young people? because one of them did actually go on to recommit, not murder, but did go back into prison. yes, and i think that s a really good example of the importance of rehabilitation interventions. particularly because the perpetrators, very young perpetrators of violence, are incredibly unusual. again, it s statistically incredibly rare. so when you ve got a case like that, it s actually the rehabilitation package has to be really good and really in depth
people in our prison systems who are so dangerous that they can never be released. i think that is true. but otherwise, traditionally, our legal system has always allowed for the possibility that people who are violent can do time, can accept responsibility, and commit themselves to living violence free in the future. violence free in the future. and i think we should be working towards that. that is still a goal that s achievable for most violence perpetrators. and when it comes to very young criminals, and i m thinking particularly here of 1993, the case, the notorious case ofjamie bulger, who was killed, a two year old boy killed by two ten year olds. and at the time, they were the youngest people in english history to be convicted of murder. they were released at the age of 18. i mean, do you think that we should make exceptions for very young people, because one of them did actually go on to recommit, not murder, but did go back into prison? yes, and i think that s a really good e