An international panel of experts from diverse specialties examine the idea of "evil" in a medical context, specifically a mental health setting, to consider how the concept can be usefully interpreted, and to elucidate its relationship to forensic psychiatry. The authors challenge the belief that the concept of "evil" plays no role in "scientific" psychiatry and is not helpful to our understanding of aberrant human thinking and behavior. Among the viewpoints up for debate are a consideration of organizations as evil structures, the "medicalization" of evil, destruction as a constructive choice, violence as a secular evil, talking about evil when it is not supposed to exist, and the influence of evil on forensic clinical practice. Among the highlights are a psychological exploration of the notion of "evil" and a variety of interesting research methods used to explore the nature of "evil."

Introduction
Tom Mason

Organizations As Evil Structures
Dave Holmes and Cary Federman

The Psychopharmaceutical Complex
Brian Kean

Intention, Excuse, and Insanity
Tamas Pataki

An Archaeology of the Psychopath: The Medicalization of Evil
Tom Mason

The Comforts of Evil: Dangerous Personalities in High-Security Hospitals and the Horror Film
Mick McKeown and Mark Stowell-Smith

Madness, Badness, and Evil
Deidre N. Greig

Destruction As a Constructive Choice
David A. Winter

Violence As Secular Evil: Forensic Evaluation and Treatment of Violent Offenders From the Viewpoint of Existential Depth Psychology
Stephen A. Diamond

Scapegoat, Spectacle, and Confessional: Close Encounters With Sex Offenders and Other Species of Dangerous Individuals
Dave Mercer and Joel Richman

The Vilification of Victimized Children in Historical Perspective
Victoria Van Slyke

Evil: A Clinical Perspective
J. David Kinzie

Capacities and Dispositions: What Psychiatry and Psychology Have to Say About Evil
Gwen Adshead

Should Radical Evil Be Forgiven?
Marguerite La Caze

Mad, Bad, and Evil: Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Evil
Michael Levine

Talking About Evil, Even When It Is Not Supposed to Exist
C. Fred Alford

The Influence of Evil on Forensic Clinical Practice
Tom Mason, Joel Richman, and Dave Mercer

Hope in the Face of Evil
Geri Miller and Ron Hood

Index