NCJ Number
91625
Date Published
1962
Length
188 pages
Annotation
These four lectures examine the fundamental dilemmas involved in trying to accommodate the viewpoints of both jurists and psychiatrists and explores the potential for bringing the criminal law into closer partnership with psychiatry and related disciplines.
Abstract
Basic dilemmas explored are the issue of free will versus determinism, the corollary issue of degrees of responsibility and blameworthiness for actions, the law's omission of psychological and sociological considerations which psychiatrists regard to be crucial to the explanation of conduct, the shortage of psychiatrists and other therapeutic personnel to fulfill the obligation implied in acquittals on the ground of insanity, and the suspicion of psychiatry by some members of the legal profession. The problems with the prevailing tests of the irresponsibility of mentally disordered offenders are examined in detail, with emphasis on the M'Naghten and Durham decisions. The use of a verdict of diminished responsibility, intermediate between full 'guilty' and full 'not guilty,' is discussed as a promising way of dealing with the issue of responsibility. More fundamental changes recommended are the use of clinics which would examine persons accused of serious offenses to reduce unnecessary prosecutions of the mentally ill, the use of such clinics to aid in the sentencing process and to serve classification and treatment agencies, their use in early identification of potential delinquents, using treatment tribunals rather than judges following the finding of guilt or innocence, improving public mental hospitals, and increasing the numbers of mental health professionals. Footnotes and an index are supplied.