James Kimmel Jr, JD

James Kimmel, Jr., JD, is a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, the founder and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies, and a researcher, lawyer, and novelist who focuses on neuroscience, psychology, revenge, addiction, forgiveness, and violence. A breakthrough scholar and expert on revenge, he first identified compulsive revenge seeking as an addiction and first developed the behavioral addiction model of revenge and the brain disease model of revenge addiction as public health approaches for preventing and treating violence.

James created The Nonjustice System and the related Miracle Court App for healing from grievances and victimization and controlling revenge cravings and revenge addiction. He is a leader in expanding local, state, and national violence threat risk and reduction initiatives to include public behavioral health motive control strategies. He launched SavingCain.org, the first-of-it’s-kind website aimed at preventing homicides and mass shootings by speaking directly to prospective killers (modeled on suicide prevention websites) and developed the "Warning Signs of a Revenge Attack" (modeled on heart attack prevention websites) to prevent violence before it happens. He also developed the School Nonjustice System bullying prevention and victim support program for use with schools and youth. Prior to his work at Yale, he co-founded the largest peer support mental health agency in Pennsylvania.

James is the author of three books on revenge: The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction--and How to Overcome It; The Trial of Fallen Angels, a novel; and Suing for Peace: A Guide for Resolving Life's Conflicts. He was featured in the motion picture documentary 365 Days: A Year in the Life of Happy Valley (2014) about the Penn State University Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal. He was also featured as an expert on revenge in the books The Age of Grievance by New York Times writer Frank Bruni (2024); We've Got issues by TV host Dr. Phil McGraw (2024); and Schadenfreude: The Joy of Another’s Misfortune by Tiffany Watt Smith (2018). He is a speaker at workshops, seminars, trainings, conferences, and other public and private events.

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.