Research Catalog

Title

Thinking about the insanity defense : answers to frequently asked questions with case examples / edited by Ellsworth Lapham Fersch.

Publication

New York : iUniverse, c2005.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Fersch, Ellsworth A.

Description

xix, 252 p.; 23 cm.

Subject

• Insanity (Law) > United States
• Criminal liability > United States

Note

• Grew out of the author's Harvard seminar on the insanity defense.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-252).

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• 1. History of the insanity defense -- What is the insanity defense? -- Why is there an insanity defense? -- What historical changes have taken place in the insanity defense? -- How often is the insanity defense used? -- How often is the insanity defense successful? -- What determines whether the insanity defense will be successful? -- What are some well-known cases where the insanity defense has succeeded? -- What are some well-known cases where the insanity defense has failed? -- Which states do not have an insanity defense and why not? -- What happens in states where there is no insanity test? -- What is irresistible impulse? -- What is temporary insanity? -- What is mens rea? -- What is actus reus? -- What is an affirmative defense? -- Who should have the burden of proof of insanity? -- How is the insanity defense related to diminished capacity? -- What is competence to stand trial? -- What is the relation between competence to stand trail and the insanity defense? -- What does the American Psychological Association conclude concerning the insanity defense? -- What does the American Psychiatric Association conclude concerning the insanity defense? -- What does the American Medical Association conclude concerning the insanity defense? -- What does the American Bar Association conclude concerning the insanity defense?
• 2. Psychological aspects of the insanity defense -- Is insanity a psychological concept? -- Is insanity the same as mental illness? -- What is mental illness? -- What types of mental illnesses does the American Psychiatric Association consider for an insanity defense? -- Is insanity the same as psychosis? -- What is the relation between psychopathology and psychosis? -- How do the various diagnoses in the official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fit with the insanity defense? -- What characteristics of schizophrenia make it suitable or not for an insanity defense? -- What characteristics of mood disorders and of anxiety disorders make them suitable or not for an insanity defense? -- What characteristics of dissociative disorders make them suitable or not for an insanity defense? -- What characteristics of sexual or somatoform disorders make them suitable or not for an insanity defense? --^
• What characteristics of posttraumatic stress disorder make it suitable or not for an insanity defense? -- What characteristics of retardation make it suitable or not for an insanity defense? -- If an individual is not insane, what mental disorders might make that individual less than fully responsible for acts? -- Can one prove that someone is sane? -- How is brain science used in insanity defense cases? -- How are psychoanalytic theories used in insanity defense cases? -- What is malingering? -- How can malingering be assessed? -- How often do defendants malinger? -- Why have psychological explanations for behavior dominated in the legal system as opposed to economic or racial or cultural or other explanations? -- How can the legal assumption of free will and full criminal responsibility be compatible with the psychological assumption of determinism and lessened or no criminal responsibility? -- Does the insanity defense contribute to the stigmatization of the mentally ill? --^
• Are religious fundamentalists mentally ill? -- Should religious fundamentalists have an insanity defense available? -- Are terrorists mentally ill? -- Should terrorists have an insanity defense available? -- How is brainwashing related to insanity?
• 3. Effects of different standards of determining insanity -- What are the primary tests of insanity? -- What is the M'Naghten test? -- What is the Durham test? -- What is the American Law Institute test? -- What is the guilty but mentally ill verdict? -- 4. Arguments for retention, abolition, and revision of the insanity defense -- What are the arguments for retaining the insanity defense? -- What are the arguments for abolishing the insanity defense? -- What are the arguments for reforming the insanity defense? -- 5. Media and other responses to the insanity defense -- Why does the public react to someone's causing terrible harm by saying the perpetrator must have been crazy? -- Given how seldom it is used, how and why has the insanity defense occupied such a prominent position in the interaction between psychology and the law? -- What do jurors think of the insanity defense? -- What does the public think of the insanity defense? -- How serious are most of the charges in insanity defense cases? -- Why does the public have the idea that the charges are usually very serious? -- Who are the most significant expert witnesses on the insanity defense and what are their views? -- What is the argument for the view of the myth of mental illness? -- What is meant by the abuse excuse? -- What predictions are made concerning the future of the insanity defense? -- How has the insanity defense been portrayed in film? -- How has the insanity defense been portrayed in fiction? -- How has the insanity defense been portrayed in non-fiction?
• 6. Controversies surrounding pre- and post-conviction commitment -- What happens to individuals found not guilty by reason of insanity? -- What shifts have taken place in the placement of individuals found not guilty by reason of insanity? -- Should a person found not guilty by reason of insanity be automatically committed to a mental hospital? -- Why would someone found not guilty by reason of insanity be evaluated as if he were simply a civilly committed individual? -- If the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, why would not a person found not guilty of a very serious act due to insanity be committed for a long time as a precaution? -- What should the consequence be for an individual who has been advised to take antipsychotic medication, who has taken it and the discontinued it, and subsequently commits a serious act? -- Should a person who was sane at the time of the crime and sentenced to death but who becomes insane be executed while insane? -- Should a lawyer be able to prevent forcing a psychotic client to take medication in order to preserve, for the jury, the state of mind in which that person committed acts for which he is charged?
• 7. Roles of psychologists and lawyers in defining, implementing, and questioning the insanity defense -- What is the reasoning behind allowing psychoforensic expert witnesses to testify? -- What are the reasons for not allowing psychoforensic experts to testify? -- How can the problems with psychoforensic expert witnesses be addressed? -- Are some experts known as pro-prosecution experts and others knows as pro-defense experts? -- Do experts ever defy expectations? -- Why does the public assume that the court-appointed psychoforensic expert will be the most unbiased and accurate? -- Should forensic psychologists and psychiatrists testify as to insanity or only as to mental illness? -- To what extent should a psychoforensic expert be a detective? -- Can psychologists and psychiatrists tell accurately who is malingering or faking? -- How successful are psychologists and psychiatrists in predicting future dangerousness? -- What strategic and what tactical moves do prosecutors use in insanity defense cases? -- What strategic and what tactical moves do defense counsel use in insanity defense cases? -- How important is the lawyer's advocacy to the success of the insanity defense? -- On what do prosecutors and defense counsel agree concerning the insanity defense? -- On what do psychologists and psychiatrists agree concerning the insanity defense? -- how important is the judge's attitude toward the insanity defense? -- How important are jurors' attitudes toward the insanity defense? -- Case examples.
• 8. Collective cases -- Ralph Tortorici -- Richard Herrin -- Dan and Ron Lafferty -- 9. Case studies -- Kenneth Bianchi -- Ted Bundy -- Jeffrey Dahmer -- John duPont -- John Wayne Gacy -- Andrew Goldstein -- William Bergen Greene -- Patty Hearst -- John Hinckley, Jr. -- Michael A. Jones -- Ted Kaczynski -- Hedda Nussbaum -- Andrea Yates.

ISBN

0595344127 (pbk.)

OCLC

59129173

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library