The Reith Lectures is a series of annual BBC radio lectures given by leading figures of the day. This year’s lecturer is Dr. Gwen Adshead. She will address four questions that she has most commonly faced in her work as a forenic psychiatrist:

Is Violence normal? What is the relationship between trauma and violence? Is there such a thing as Evil? BBC and DR. Adshead is now visiting The House of Literature in Bergen to ask and discuss the last question: Can we change violent minds?

Dr Gwen Adshead asks if people who have been violent to others can really change their minds for the better? Little media attention is paid to the provision of interventions for offenders so she will examine how effective are therapeutic interventions in prison. These programmes have been around for over half a century, and are available in prisons in many countries, including in Norway.  They offer violent offenders a chance to look at their lives, past and present, and examine with others how they came to lead a violent life, and what they need to do to stay safe in future and to make amends where they can. She argues these kind of violence reduction programmes are not easy options. And she will talk about what else we need to do to change violent minds.  What would we want for a son or a daughter if they did a terrible thing?

Host of the evening is radio and television presenter, journalist, historian, and author Anita Anand.

The Reith Lectures are commissioned by the BBC on Radio 4 and the World Service. The lectures were inaugurated in 1948 to mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by Lord Reith, the corporation's first director-general.

Places are free, but limited. Please email Brenda.Brown@bbc.co.uk for a ticket.