Herschel Prins has worked in the fields of criminal justice and forensic mental health for over sixty years. He has served on a number of public and voluntary bodies and authored numerous books and articles.

• Concerning the Author – Reflections and Recollections. Troubled and Troublesome Minds – An Orientation. The Mentally Disordered and Criminal Responsibility – a Brief Introduction to the Law. Forensic Mental Health and Allied Service Provision. Psychopathic Disorder – Useful Concept or Moral Judgement?, Aggression and Violence – Extending the Boundaries. Homicide. Sexual Conduct and Sexual Misconduct. Arson – or ‘What you will’. Assessing Dangerousness – A Risky Business. Concluding Comments.

"… Prins himself has crossed boundaries in his career – practitioner, Probation Officer, and academic – the book remains filled with observations from and about music, art, literature and contemporary culture which takes his prose about what some might regard as essentially dry, socio-forensic matters into a whole new realm of academic writing. In other words, Offenders, Deviants or Patients? remains what it has always been - a delight to actually read. This is not something I could say about many academic books." - From the Foreword, Professor David Wilson, Centre for Applied Criminology, Birmingham City University