Welcome to Topics pages

These pages will offer a glimpse into the human behavior and behavioral expression of domestic violence. This comes from my background in psychology and law enforcement my interest trends in abnormal behavior and its forensic underpinning.  I have studied domestic violence and domestic violence homicide and with a group of colleagues published the Psychological Autopsy of the June 11, 2011, Dexter, Maine Domestic Violence Homicide (Allanach, et. al., 2011).  I am interested in the notion of mass shooting and the precursory red flags that can signal the imminent terminal rage associated with these despicable events.  I am particularly concerned that each time something so dramatic occurs like the Navy Yard shooting in early September 2013 and the Newtown, CT school massacre – there is a collective shock about “what triggered” such a heinous event?  Followed by months of interviewing known friends and members of family trying to uncover motives while looking at the facts of the premorbid behavior.  In the end, there is a subset of human beings who behave as they alone choose to behave, without regard for the feelings of others and without regard for the harm they do and the chaos they leave behind.  The mass shooter rarely survives the terminal event, and the behavior leaves most of us in shock and awe.

Human behavior remains a complex and sometimes mystifying circumstance.  Some behavior appears arbitrary, bizarre, and unpredictable.  Other behaviors like school bullying are calculated and fiercely demeaning. Yet with precise understanding of the driving impact of environment, biological underpinnings, and immediate antecedents – the study of human behavior may be embraced and perhaps predicted with greater acumen. To see some of the topics published in these pages simply click on the topic of interest.