My Life with Murderers: Behind Bars with the World’s Most Violent Men

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Wilson writes well, smooth simple prose that aids in eliminating any pretension whatsoever and yet carries a rather nuanced but striking knowledge base that’s undoubtedly dripping with murderous intrigue. David Wilson is Emeritus Professor of Criminology and the founding Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University. Prior to taking up an academic appointment in 1997, David was a prison governor working at a variety of establishments in a number of different roles. Some of the sections were interesting. His description of the rehab techniques some of the prisons use was intriguing. And his comparison of US and UK interview techniques was unsurprising but interesting anyway.

My Life with Murderers by David Wilson | Hachette UK

With characteristic brilliance and admirable sensitivity, Wilson illuminates the complex causes of their often horrific crimes’– Professor Simon Winlow, Vice President of the British Society of Criminology It’s clear that Wilson knows his stuff. Without having read any of his previous novels, it’s clear that he has years of experience dealing with various psychopaths and murderers and knows their personalities inside and out. He takes a more scientific approach compared to his American contemporaries too, relying more heavily of the psychology of victims and evidence based practice compared to ‘one off interviews’ and showman ship. It’s a refreshing and more reliable approach to others I’ve read (ie John Douglas, who gets a sound dressing down here). My Life with Murderers is a reflection by renound professor of criminology David Wilson on his time as governor and assistant governor at a number of British prisons and the numerous encounters with murders he has had along the way. However, it’s also more than that, as it follows Wilson’s musings on what it is to be a murderer and the various types of murderers there are, from spree and hitmen to serial and beyond. Professor David Wilson has spent his professional life working with violent men – especially men who have committed murder. Aged twenty-nine he became, at that time, the UK’s youngest ever prison Governor in charge of a jail and his career since then has seen him sat across a table with all sorts of killers: sometimes in a tense interview; sometimes sharing a cup of tea (or something a little stronger); sometimes looking them in the eye to tell them that they are a psychopath.Wilson is an academic and has worked in several prisons including Wormwood Scrubs and open prison Grendon.

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He intersperses stories of notorious cases - from Denis Nilsen to the murder of James Bulger - to illustrate his themes which include the social nature of crime, and how the murderer is a product of society. David Wilson, criminologist, has spent his career working with, interviewing and studying some of the UKs most prolific murderers. In his book, he reveals some of the key moments in his career. His current research interests range from the phenomenon of British serial murder, family annihilation, hitmen and lethal violence within organised crime, to all aspects of prison history and penal reform.I know I'm not the only one who spends their time watching YouTube videos about serial killers. This book is the ideal companion to that pastime. Interesting - yes, detailed - very, all the different sorts of murder, eg. domestic, contract etc with their own chapters, well-written - definitely and seeded with famous murders that saturated the media at the time, but..... although it was very comprehensive and research-based, it didn't really tell me any more than any other similar book about murderers. And it wasn't very memorable. Stars — This is exactly what you think it is, and I — For One — Am extremely grateful for that, because David Wilson is perhaps the true Prof of all things murder and crime so hearing his personal journey through the murky depths of psychopathic Rabbit Warrens is one I strapped in for whole-heartedly. Ahead of the tour, David Wilson said: “I’m really excited at the prospect of being able to share my academic and applied knowledge about murder in all its various and deadly guises. I want to persuade the audience that an interest in true crime is not just normal but necessary and, above all, to offer hope about how we can reduce the incidence of murder and serial murder in our culture.” In a career spanning 40 years David Wilson has met all sorts of killers: hitmen, mass, spree and serial killers and those murderers who seem to kill “in 5 minutes of madness”. Sometimes he meets them in a tense interview in a cell; sometimes to share a cup of tea (or something a little stronger); or sometimes just to look them in the eye as he tells them that, yes, they really are a psychopath.