James Gilligan is an American psychiatrist and author best known for his series of books entitled Violence. A professor at New York University, he has served as a consultant on violence prevention to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, President of the United States Bill Clinton, and Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan.
During his career, Gilligan has served as director for the Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane, director of mental health for the Massachusetts prison system and as president of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy.
During his tenure as the medical director of the Massachusetts prison mental hospital in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the rates of suicide and murder dropped to nearly zero.
In 1977, Gilligan became the director of the Harvard Institute of Law and Psychiatry. From 1966 to 2000 Gilligan was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Gilligan joined the faculty at New York University in 2002. Gilligan is an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and collegiate professor at New York University's College of Arts and Sciences. He lectures at the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine.
He provided testimony to the New York City Board of Correction, New York State Senate, United States Senate, World Economic Forum, and World Health Organization. Gilligan served as the psychiatric adviser to Martin Scorsese for the film Shutter Island.
Gilligan is the husband of American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist Carol Gilligan.