Evil at Our Table: Inside the Minds of the Monsters Who Live Among Us

Once inside the prison system, how can a pathological, sexual sadist who needs to be confined to a mental institution, be distinguished from the perpetrator of a sexual crime who is unlikely to ever transgress again? And who can say?

Working under California’s Sexually Violent Predator Law, Samantha Stein, PsyD, faces such offenders alone, one by one, in a prison interview room. As a forensic psychologist, her high-stakes decisions can determine the difference between a life lived back in society or one condemned to indefinite incarceration. For Dr. Stein, despite the science she relies on, it’s a profound responsibility that comes with a prayer: “Please don’t let me have been wrong.”

Confronting evil, yet never approaching an evaluation with damning preconceptions, Dr. Stein opens her mind to her subjects’ life stories—their crimes, their grim pathologies, their frustrations and demons, their childhoods, their sociopathic reasoning, and often, too, their genuine and civilized regret. She doesn’t hesitate to hold them accountable, but she acknowledges their humanity. She studies the face, eyes, posture, and the lies, yet admits that predicting human behavior can be dicey.

Part forensics, part exploration of human nature, Evil at Our Table is the first in-depth account by a treatment provider and evaluator in the field. Here, Dr. Stein not only reveals the details of specific cases—and the outcomes—but also delves into the sometimes-overwhelming impact on her personal life.

Told with empathy, uncompromising honesty, and insight from a unique and experienced perspective, in this important book, Dr. Stein investigates salient issues of our time: the intersection of good and evil, crime, punishment, law, and psychology, and our very humanity, as well as how to achieve a sane balance between community safety and civil liberties—all the while facing the monsters among us.