Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xiv, 306 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

1. This volume delivers a critique of the American legal system's abuse of the insanity defense -- what the author calls "designer defenses" that put violent psychopaths in mental hospitals, and sending schizophrenics to jail. It is interspersed with case histories of defendants, ranging from serial killers to child killer Susan Smith. The author recounts the recent history and current use of the insanity plea. She differentiates between psychopaths and the truly ill, also explaining that there is no such thing as "temporary insanity." The author also gives a concise and vivid history of mental treatment during and since the Reagan administration.

Subject

1. Criminal Psychology
2. Criminal liability
3. Criminal psychology
4. Forensic Psychiatry
5. Forensic psychology
6. Insanity (Law)
7. Insanity Defense

Contents

1. Inside the criminal psyche -- The truly insane -- Psychopathic crime -- The designer defense -- The forensic detective -- Madness and the media -- After the verdict: treatment, quarantine, or revenge? -- Cruel and unusual: the backlash that backfired -- The psychological defense: a manifesto for sanity.

Owning institution

1. Harvard Library

Note

1. Includes index.

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes index.

Processing action (note)

1. committed to retain