James Kimmel, Jr., JD

James Kimmel, Jr., JD, is an attorney, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and the founder and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. As a breakthrough scholar on the intersection of neuroscience and human violence, he pioneered the Behavioral Addiction Model of Revenge and the Brain Disease Model of Revenge Addiction. His research establishes public health and psychiatric frameworks for preventing and treating violence as a compulsive behavioral disorder driven by retaliatory brain cravings.

James is the author of the landmark book The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World’s Deadliest Addiction—and How to Overcome It (Penguin Random House), which details how real and perceived grievances hijack the brain's neurobiological reward centers and how decisional forgiveness and addiction prevention and treatment strategies stop this process.

To operationalize his psychiatric research into public health interventions, James has created and deployed several global digital platforms and clinical tools for violence interruption:

• Motive Control Science & Violence Prevention: He is a leader in expanding local, state, and national violence threat risk reduction initiatives using motive control metrics to intercept mass violence before it occurs by understanding grievances, revenge and violence as part of a preventable and treatable addictive process.
• SavingCain.org (Homicide & Mass Shooting Interception): A first-of-its-kind public safety platform modeled on suicide prevention protocols. It speaks directly to prospective violent actors to de-escalate violence, utilizing his clinical criteria for the "Warning Signs of a Revenge Attack". Access the site at http://www.savingcain.org/.
• The Nonjustice System & Miracle Court App: A transformative psychological framework and digital application engineered for healing from victimization, disrupting active revenge cravings, and empowering cognitive forgiveness. Access the platform at https://www.miraclecourt.com/.
• Revenge Anonymous (RA): A structured 12-step peer-support self-help recovery program modeled after substance abuse protocols, specifically designed for individuals recovering from chronic grievance fixation and revenge addiction. Explore the program at https://www.revengeanonymous.org/.
• The School Nonjustice System: An anti-bullying and youth victim-support framework deployed in educational environments to disrupt the peer-to-peer "Mutual Victim Trap".
• The Revenge Score Quiz: A free online quiz that can help people learn how often they think about and seek revenge and assess their risk for revenge addiction. Access the quiz at https://www.jameskimmeljr.com/quiz.
• Forgiveness First Aid Kit: A free online tool to experience the pain and revenge relieving benefits of forgiveness within seconds. Access the tool at https://www.jameskimmeljr.com/for-give.
  

James’s work has been widely featured in elite scientific and mainstream media, including NPR’s Book of the Day, Oprah, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. James is also the author of The Trial of Fallen Angels, a novel (Penguin Random House); Suing for Peace: A Guide for Resolving Life's Conflicts (Hampton Roads); and the forthcoming book The Science of Forgiveness: Understanding the World's Most Powerful Drug--and How to Use it. For comprehensive research information, media segments, speaking calendar, and training toolkits, visit https://www.jameskimmeljr.com/.

James received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania and his BS summa cum laude from the Schreyer Honors College of the Pennsylvania State University.