π¨ ππππ ππππ ➜ Evil at Our Table: Inside the Minds of the Monsters Who Live Among Us a real-life Mindhunter’s provocative true crime memoir by Samantha Stein, PsyD
Evil at Our Table by Samantha Stein, PsyD offers an uncommon perspective on how justice is shaped long before courtroom verdicts are finalized. Focused on forensic evaluations, the story examines what happens when the responsibility for public safety rests on a single professional judgment.Operating within California’s Sexually Violent Predator Law, Dr. Stein evaluates individuals whose futures depend on her conclusions. Each interview requires careful analysis of behavior, psychological history, and risk, all while recognizing that certainty is rarely possible.
In Evil at Our Table, Dr. Stein recounts specific cases that illustrate the complexity of distinguishing between those likely to reoffend and those who may not. She examines childhood histories, criminal behavior, and patterns of reasoning, remaining alert to deception while open to genuine accountability. The book also addresses how repeated exposure to violence and moral ambiguity affects her life beyond the interview room. Combining professional insight with ethical reflection, the story probes how law and psychology intersect when society must decide who can safely return.
Amazon: https://bit.ly/3Z9eRfx
Introduction: Meeting with Monsters
I’m a forensic psychologist. This may sound glamorous, but the word “forensic simply means “the use of science in the investigation and establishment of facts or evidence in a court of law.” In other words, my job is to apply psychology to legal situations where it may be used in the courtroom. Sometimes it’s exciting; mostly, it’s just hard work. My career in psychology initially began with victims of abuse, and I assumed after receiving my doctorate I would continue that work. However, as I gained more experience, I began to recognize that often the line between “victim” and “perpetrator” was less clear than I’d thought. I worked with a boy who’d been molested as a toddler and later, in elementary school, fondled other boys. I met men and women accused of domestic violence who had powerful trauma histories—growing up in households where violence was commonplace. I learned that trauma work and prevention work were often intimately intertwined: Not every victim becomes a perpetrator, but the vast majority of perpetrators have been victimized.
Evaluating high-risk sex offenders under the SVP law is highly specialized. At the time when I conducted these evaluations, there were almost eighteen thousand licensed psychologists in the state of California and fewer than 110 who performed these evaluations. Expert forensic work as a psychologist in general is rare; expert evaluations and testimony as an SVP evaluator is even rarer. As an SVP evaluator, expertise in the statistics and science of forensic evaluations and knowledge about sex offending are necessary, and having the treatment experience is a bonus—it often helps us form a more nuanced picture of the offender. I never shy away from holding the offenders responsible for their actions and make no excuses for them. But I also have empathy and compassion for many of them as human beings. I’ve gotten to know so many of them in a deeply personal way, heard their life stories and struggles. So I do not approach my evaluations with damning preconceptions; I individually evaluate each case to determine if the man sitting in front of me is too dangerous, by legal definition, to live in our communities.
This book represents an intersection between my life and the lives of the men I evaluated. As a forensic psychologist, I have had to decide if people who have done terrible things meet the criteria to be locked up indefinitely in a mental institution. As I met with and evaluated these men who committed abhorrent acts, I strived to do my work to the best of my ability and as ethically as I can. I employed my professional knowledge and experience, and met the men with compassion, empathy, and understanding.
That said, I was and still am more than a forensic psychologist. I also have had a life outside of this work. In addition to interests, hobbies, and passions, I have a family. While I’ve tried to keep my professional and personal lives separate over the years, it is not possible to separate them completely, and in some ways, I wouldn’t want to—my growth and knowledge in one area informs the other. My experiences as a female and parent give me insight in my work, and my knowledge and my experience as a forensic evaluator give me the tools to keep myself and my children safe. As a human being, I have never stopped looking for answers about sexuality, danger, risk, humanity, parenting, and passion—ultimately gaining new perspectives.
Over my more than twenty-five years as a psychologist, my practice has expanded to include many other issues, such as addiction, couples therapy, family work, and people simply wanting to figure out how to live their best possible lives. But the SVP law has not fundamentally changed, and I believe our need to wrestle with the ethical implications has only grown more urgent. And my work with offenders continues to hold a unique place in my psyche, mind, and heart.
Guest Post:
Are We Born Good or Evil?
Altruism, and in particular what we might term “extraordinary altruism,” has longed puzzled many fields of science, including biology, psychology, and economics. The central question is: Why would a human being behave in an altruistic manner, especially to risk their life or endure pain for someone they don’t even know?
There is general agreement among scientists that the function of altruism is partly to promote the survival of our genes (by being kind to relatives) and in part to permit the exchange of favors (by getting help some other time if we needed it). However, more extreme altruism remains somewhat puzzling as it doesn’t satisfy either of those explanations. So Abigail Marsh, Ph.D., and her colleagues at Georgetown University set out to investigate if the brains of extreme altruists might have observable differences from other brains and, in particular, if these differences might be the opposite of differences seen in the brains of psychopaths.
It turns out they do. Dr. Marsh and her team used structural and functional MRIs to compare the amygdalas of extraordinary altruists (altruistic kidney donors who volunteered to donate a kidney to an anonymous, non-related, person) to those who are not extraordinary altruists, and also to the brains of psychopaths, who behave in the opposite manner as someone who is altruistic, exhibiting little empathy or desire to do anything that doesn’t benefit themselves. The amygdala is a part of the brain that has been shown to perform a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional reactions.
What Dr. Marsh and her colleagues discovered is that extraordinary altruists have significantly larger right amygdalas, and that it is, indeed, the inverse of the brains of psychopaths, whose right amygdalas, previous studies have shown, are smaller than average.
This study is interesting because it suggests that extraordinary altruism represents one end of a caring continuum, with psychopathy on the other end. It also supports the possibility of a neural basis for extraordinary altruism, and for altruism in general. In other words, we are all born, to a greater or lesser degree, hardwired to be kind to others. And while encouragement from our upbringing will help to enhance this propensity, some of our “goodness” is what we are born with.
From Psychology Today, September 22, 2014
Samantha Stein Psy.D. is a forensic psychologist who specialized in sex offender and addiction treatment, court-ordered evaluations, and court testimony for nearly 3 decades. The author of a popular PsychologyToday.com column with over 2.2 million reads, her writing has been published in numerous outlets, including Flaunt Magazine, The Awakenings Review, Anxy Magazine, and The Guardian. A frequent speaker and teacher, she has presented at numerous conferences. She is also an avid photographer whose work has been exhibited in several small shows and has sold to collectors and individuals. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit Samantha at her website.
Author Q&A
What’s a detail, theme, or clue in your book that most readers might miss on the first read—but you secretly hope someone notices?
When it comes to literary true crime, stories such as Evil at Our Table grip us unlike any other genre. For every suspense novel that shocks and awes readers, there are real-life stories that make those fictions seem tame and predictable. Yet true crime is a loaded genre: the best do not sensationalize violence and human suffering, but instead provide context and depth to the crimes they study. In these books, we’re reminded that true crime does not simply consist of a neatly constructed narrative with a criminal mastermind and heroic detectives and ideal victims. Life, and crimes, are so much messier than that.
Evil at Our Table is a difficult read at times, but it resists sensationalizing or overdramatizing the terrible crimes that have been committed. As a narrator, I recount my experience in relatable prose; as a forensic psychologist, I am informed, and my views are thought-provoking and nuanced. In other words, Evil at Our Table presents an intelligent, strong, yet vulnerable narrator who takes the reader through provocative material without ever being salacious, begging weighty questions about human nature that aren't easy to answer. It also provides nuts-and-bolts tips on safety and prevention as I make the daily decisions every parent must make about their kids in today’s world.
Gripping and absorbing, Evil at Our Table is also urgently needed. True crime is perennially fascinating, and our criminal justice system–and those who are caught up in it–is one of the salient issues of our time. Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that we don’t see people and issues in black-and-white terms, and increasingly, people get it. Pure evil does exist–and the book acknowledges this–but most people are not that. It’s crucial that we see those who have committed crimes–and to see ourselves–as deeply flawed and yet human all at once, in order for us to really understand why these crimes happen and how to help make sure they don’t continue to.
When did this story or idea “click” into place for you—was there a single moment you knew you had to write it?
I was journaling about my experiences and really wrestling with the morality of the work I was doing. I was asking myself questions about the balance between accountability and empathy, about redemption and nuance versus black and white thinking. I was asking myself about where the line is between public safety and civil liberties. This is when I realized there was an important book to be written.
Which character or real-life person surprised you the most while writing this book, and why?
There is a person in the book I call “Luke Miller” who is the one offender with a through-line story in the book. He was the most surprising to me - he had really changed between the first and second times I met with him. I found this transformation to be both inspiring (on a personal level) and heartbreaking (on a professional level) as I objectively evaluated him under the law.
If your book had a soundtrack, what three songs would be on it and what scenes or moments would they pair with?
I have no idea. I would need to give this some serious thought.
What’s one belief, question, or emotional truth you hope readers carry with them long after they finish your book?
I hope that readers will be inspired to see that all of us exist on a continuum of humanity, and to be humbled out of their self-righteousness.
Tell us about a moment during the writing process when the story (or message) took an unexpected turn.
I think writing the scene witnessing my twins taking a bath was probably more vulnerable than I expected to get in the book.
If your protagonist (or the central figure in your nonfiction) could give the reader one piece of advice, what would it be?
Educate yourself. Don’t believe the hype or tropes of our society.
What real-world place, object, or memory helped shape a key element in your book?
The photographs in my book are key elements to the story. They are visual depictions of my inner experience and my journey, and they tie the book to place and emotion in a way that words can’t.
What’s something you had to research, learn, or experience to write this book that genuinely shocked you?
I was genuinely shocked to have empathy for many of the people who committed sex offenses. I believe in accountability, of course, and there is no excuse for committing these crimes (and it is never okay), but I didn’t expect to connect with the humans who committed them. Or grow to understand them.
If your book were invited to join a shelf with three other titles, which ones would make you happiest—and what would that shelf say about your story?
Just Mercy, The Fact of a Body, Autobiography of an Execution (or Things I’ve Learned from Dying by same author)
That shelf is really about people who wrote a deeply personal story about their journey to being able to hold all of what’s true: the terrible things people do, the accountability, and yet, the humanity. The gray areas we rarely spend time in but really need to if we are to grow as humans and as a society.
#evilatourtable #samanthastein #forensicpsychologybooks #truecrimebooks #forensicpsychology #criminaljusticecommunity #guest post #authorinterview #kindleunlimited #booktour #bookstoread
Comments
Post a Comment