Listening to Killers: Lessons Learned from My Twenty Years as a Psychological Expert Witness in Murder Cases

by James Garbarino

Listening to Killers offers an inside look at twenty years' worth of murder files from Dr. James Garbarino, a leading expert psychological witness who listens to killers so that he can testify in court. The author offers detailed accounts of how killers travel a path that leads from childhood innocence to lethal violence in adolescence or adulthood. He places the emotional and moral damage of each individual killer within a larger scientific framework of social, psychological, anthropological, and biological research on human development. By linking individual cases to broad social and cultural issues and illustrating the social toxicity and unresolved trauma that drive some people to kill, Dr. Garbarino highlights the humanity we share with killers and the role of understanding and empathy in breaking the cycle of violence.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Psychology, Crime

306 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2015

Reviews

[Darcia Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I want to commend the author on his pursuit to understand and learn from those who kill. Our society is too busy making stricter laws and longer prison sentences, treating the effect and not the cause. Compassion is easy when you share similar values and backgrounds, but not so easy when you don't. Yet, this is precisely when compassion is most needed.

This book isn't quite what I expected. While the author spends a lot of time listening to killers, we don't. He shares many stories, but they are in the form of short case studies. Most of what we learn about them comes to us filtered and dispersed through the author's narrative. The content is also structured in a way that sometimes scatters the information for each case among multiple chapters. This makes it a little harder, at least for me, to really follow and understand the roots of each killer.

All of the cases featured here are young males and females, having killed in their teens or young adulthood. These aren't the hardened criminals most people imagine murderers to be. I was pleasantly surprised by this, because it's a subject that desperately needs attention. The author's explanation of what he calls the "war zone mentality" is compelling. This is a topic I would love to see gain further attention.

I want to emphasize that, while the author wants us to understand these killers, he is not asking us to give them a free pass. Compassion and empathy does not mean a get-out-of-jail-free card. But locking a 14-year-old child away for life in an adult prison is also not the answer. What we are doing is obviously not working. These children aren't born killers. Identifying and treating the problems early, before the killing starts, is a first step we absolutely must take.

This book has some thought-provoking content. Our society must have this discussion. But readers need to approach with an open mind. The close-minded, prison nation mentality is largely responsible for creating this problem in the first place.

*I received this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main lesson tends to be, killers tend to have been kids who are unloved or unsafe. Those are the threads which rope the many convicted killers Garbarino describes. He doesn't spend pages arguing these people were not guilty. He instead discusses his opinions on how they were put on a path to do evil things, and whether justice would be better served with attempts at rehabilitation or simple punishment.

[Emilie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not at all what I was expecting. Couldn't even finish this Book that really should have been titled - 101 Excuses for Killers to keep them from getting the death penalty. While I am deeply interested in what drives certain individuals to become such monsters, I also feel that regardless of what life has thrown at you, regardless of economic status, living conditions, childhood traumas, etc... individuals still always have a choice of who they want to be and how they want to act. The way the author presented it as if these people had no choice but to kill....sickening.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Defense psychology and perpetrator sympathy a its finest. This book took me so FOREVER to get through because I couldn't stop rolling my eyes, making snide comments and wanting to vomit. Amazing how we forget about the victims.

[sabinali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful stuff, down to earth, intelligent, soulful and compassionate. I got to the book from an interview with the author concerning Robert Durst, and even there it was evident that his analysis was far beyond the superficial armchair psychology floating around everywhere. I am not a mental health professional yet the book was easily accessible without being dumbed down. A highly worthwhile read.

[Autumn Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casual warning, I'm not dropping any stars for this because it is 100% my problem. This is not a dyslexia/dyscalculia friendly book. I don't know what it is about it but I had to read one or two chapters per day before I started to get a headache. If you are reading on a device there's dyslexia friendly fonts you can install on your device. I'm reading the paperback. Again, nothing dock-worthy just something to be aware of as a reader.


I became obsessed with True crime when I was 8 years old and my mom tried to scare me straight using the story of Shanda Sharer. I knew that I wanted to solve cases like that and help people. I say that to show that I have a fair understanding of criminal psychology and crime. When he talked about the Sudanese girls I didn't understand it. Yes I understand continuing the cycle and being part of cultural abuse. But as someone who has been harmed there is nothing that would make me okay with my son going through those same things. I don't get how the maternal instinct doesn't override the cultural expectation.

I hear you on Bruce Walters, but until we get definitive proof either way we just can't say.

This is the first non-fiction "cop" book I've read that I've agreed with. He goes into great detail about abused children in adult bodies. I can't think of a single case where someone was born wrong. I'm sure they're out there, I haven't seen one. Even things that don't look like trauma. I know a woman who was adopted at birth. Her adoptive family is amazing. Besides the typical parent mistakes there were no large traumas. But from a very young age she was always in trouble. Unfortunately she passed young due to long term addiction. As a fellow adopted child I had my own issues, some that I'm still and likely always will be battling. Early intervention is so very important.

"It is a measure of our moral and scientific failure that we continue to execute these damaged individuals."

I literally feel sick after reading about René Descartes. TW everyone, a dog dies. The chapter is Keeping Killers Inside Our Circle of Caring. The section is enlarging the circle of caring.




I checked this out from the library before the week of 9/10/25. After everything I've seen in the last few days I'm not in a good place to finish it right now. I did however put it in my Amazon cart. I will be finishing it eventually, it's not a permanent DNR. It's just a little rough to read right now. Take care of yourselves.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Central to Garbarino's book is compassion. That's what it means to "listen to killers," as the title says. It means to listen to them as one person to another. Though this was published about 9 years ago, the topic is no less relevant now than it was at the time of it's publication. Alongside anecdotes and analyses of the cases Garbarino was involved in, he examines contributing factors to the high rates of imprisonment and recidivism in the USA. The issues cannot be disentangled from one another, and the book's major thesis rings true. While an individual's actions should not be ignored, it is essential to recognize them as a person. That is not something the United States "criminal justice" system does, but for more on that, you can read the book.

[Patricia English · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book but more information about race, juvenile offenders and the court system than i expected. Yes there were several case studies of course but just not what I was expecting. Still a good book but there were a lot of spots that were boring to me and hard to get through, although I did get through them, but sometimes I found myself drifting off and thinking of other things so I think I missed some of the book. Overall I gave it only 3 stars but for those doing research into this type of thing I would probably give it 4 or 5. It just wasn't what I myself expected. Very through though in what it was about.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scotland is responsible for the present violence in the USA. One of the more risible comments in this book, which gives many examples of the backgrounds of convicted murderers. Yes, an abusive childhood seems to be a causal factor but can we cure the resultant psychopathic personality, or can we find a pathway of intervention to stop children being abused? This book is short on answers.

[Simona · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is a beautiful humane voice making the case for a more science-based, sensical approach when it comes to the U.S. penal system and our concepts around penalty, revenge and redemption.

Overarching his analysis of contributing factors in the "making" of a killer and criminals is a birds-eye view on the American society and how its inegalitarian system and individualistic mindset (in the sense that everybody is supposed to "make it" by themselves as opposed to society taking care of you to a certain degree when it comes to equality of opportunity, which is the prevalent way of thinking in a lot of other communities, such as many European or Asian countries) create a fertile ground and even slippery slope for those children/individuals most at risk in society.

A plus point is that while laying out the facts of particular situations and trials he experienced throughout his professional life as an expert witness with a number of killers, he never descends into gore or graphic descriptions, which would ultimately also hinder the reader seeing the cases from an impartial perspective.

A very important voice in a day and age where everybody is very quick to judge.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is amazing. However, I would not recommend it to anyone not in the field (or like me, trying to get in the field) of forensic, child, or adolescent psychology. It’s not narrative at ALL because he has to protect his clients’ privacy—so no Criminal Minds or murder documentaries here. Honestly, it’s more like a textbook. It’s all principles. And he repeats himself. A LOT. Sometimes verbatim.

Keeping that in mind, this book is so important. Dr. Garabino has done so much important work for forensic psychology and summarizes a lot of important research. He also gives a TON of resources—it’s almost like free mentoring.

[Skyqueen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to read. Not only because of the subject matter, but also because of the way he writes. For me in some instances, it was hard to follow what conclusion he was trying to get you to come to. That said, it was also difficult because you realize just how deep, widespread, and complex the problem is. It is overwhelming to think that anyone could make a difference. While he does a mostly thorough job of explaining the problem, I do not agree with some of his premises. For example, that more blacks and browns are incarcerated than whites, as in being victimized. Oh yes they are percentage wise, but if they weren't doing the crime, then they would not be there. It is not race related, it is circumstance related. He just didn't make his case on that skewed point.
Also, he does give many sad and desperate case studies, but somehow just leaves you hanging with the unfinished story.
At the end of the book, he outlines his solutions. Again, I do not necessarily agree with them. For example, that stricter gun laws will lower murder rates. Yes he gave foreign statistics and why America has so many guns. But to me he fails to address fixing the underlying circumstances of what makes killers, and how to overcome those circumstances at the root. He uses typical Liberal solutions of having the Government fix things through more money, laws, etc. etc., an after the fact rather than a real, solid solution. Not to say that some of these programs can't work, just that they seem. again, like a band-aid.
Throughout the book he makes a point of saying there is no Yes or No answer. That the best answer is It Depends. And his main goal is to get you to understand what went into WHY the killer kills. To sympathize and empathize but not dismiss what they did. Only perhaps lessen the 'punishment' and address the rehabilitation aspect. On that he also admits that psychopaths may not CAN be fixed. I would suggest he read:
The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain
Author: James Fallon
which gives a very scientific view of what goes on inside, and is not based on emotion.
And yes, before I read the book, Listening, I already knew that people who hurt other people are hurt themselves. So THAT becomes the problem needing solved. How do you keep that from happening, developmentally to defenseless children. It is a societal problem, involving love, acceptance, character-building, hope, freedom from abandonment, the family, education (from dumbing down the generations starting in early 1900s), church/religion/God, jobs, entertainment, and entitlements, which rob people of self-confidence and self-esteem. So it would take a GREAT paradigm shift, a lot of time, and a measure of common sense and values that have been forsaken for Political Correctness. May God help us. At least Mr. Garbarino and many others are making an attempt, if nothing else by studying the problem.

[Aisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book changed the way I view the perpetrators of true crime. It raises many uncomfortable questions, such as: Are violent offenders often victims themselves? Can juveniles and children who kill be rehabilitated instead of being imprisoned indefinitely? How can the prison system be reformed to effectively distinguish the incorrigible (e.g., psychopaths), who should never be allowed back into society, from those who can re-learn what it means to be a human being?

Garbarino has many thoughtful ideas regarding the above. He loses me, however, when he delves into the topic of race. He attributes high crime rates in the black population to racism, without providing any statistical evidence to support his claims. Although his reasoning is elevated in other areas, here he seems to succumb to simplification.

He also has a few offhand remarks about so-called made-up conditions by the pharmaceutical industry that reveal he has no idea what he's talking about in terms of medicine. This he did to prove an unrelated point, so it was truly unnecessary and insulting to people who must endure these diseases that don't really exist, they are simply part of a profit-making scheme by Big Pharma. Yawn.

Garbarino also has a naive view of gun control and ownership in the United States. He says that he is in favor of a universal buy-back program like the one implemented in Australia after the Port Arthur massacre in the mid-1990s. I do not dispute his statistics that having a gun in the home makes suicide and murder more likely in said households. I agree with him that children should not have access to firearms, for obvious reasons of safety. However, there are more guns than people at this point in America. For a similar buy-back to occur, armed troops would have to physically pry them from gun owners' hands a la Charlton Heston. This ain't Great Britain.

Caveats aside, this book is beautifully written. Its key messages transcend liberal or conservative viewpoints. Garbarino successfully humanizes men (yes, it's mostly men) society has condemned as monsters. They are monsters, but how'd they get that way? Brutal childhoods, in many instances, and grinding poverty and drug use by their parents and caregivers. It doesn't change the gravity of their crime, and the author never once forgets about the innocent victims. But it is valuable to explore what the system can do to nurture the human in these apparent monsters, because they are capable of change (he argues) and may even re-join society one day.