大象传媒

Doctor Gwen Adshead is a forensic psychiatrist working with the UK鈥檚 most violent offenders, many of them serving life sentences at Broadmoor Prison for murder. Gwen believes that empathy starts with a recognition that there is a capacity for evil in all of us.

"My experience is that evil states of mind can be potentially found in everyone, and evil begins on the inside with a turning away from all that is healthy and beautiful in our lives," she says. She believes that for her patients, 鈥渘o matter what their history鈥�, therapeutic treatment works.

Gwen speaks with the writer and convicted murderer Erwin James who died shortly after recording this interview. Together they reflect on Erwin鈥檚 life story and how he came to commit the crime he did. Erwin describes his own relationship with therapy in prison and he asks Gwen about her relationship with Christianity and how it has supported her. 鈥楩aith and grace have kept me hopeful in my work with people who seem to have abandoned all hope鈥� she says.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon
A Falling Tree production for 大象传媒 World Service

(Photo: Dr Gwen Adshead. Credit: Andy Vox)