The Mad, the Bad, and the Innocent: The Criminal Mind on Trial - Tales of a Forensic Psychologist - Hardcover

Kirwin PhD, Barbara R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316494992 ISBN 13: 9780316494991

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 1997

Synopsis

The New York area's premier forensic psychologist--the expert prosecutors turn to when a defendant claims insanity--looks back over her most celebrated cases to deliver a no-holds-barred critique of recent insanity defense abuses. Zeroing in on cases such as the Menendez brothers and Jeffrey Dahmer, Kirwin shows how unscrupulous defense attorneys and overzealous prosecutors have perverted the true purpose of the insanity defense. of photos.

About this title

Review:

"Americans are frightened and outraged by violent crime and their frustration at not being able to stop it. Bashing the insanity defense is universally seen as a way of getting tough on crime. Ironically, as we all seem to abdicate responsibility for our own lives, we seem to assert that everyone else, even the mentally impaired, is responsible for his." Barbara Kirwin is a forensic psychologist most often employed by prosecuting attorneys to distinguish the bona fide mental cases from the fakers. In The Mad, the Bad, and the Innocent she delivers a stinging critique of the American legal system's abuse of the insanity defense--both what she calls "designer defenses" that put violent psychopaths in mental hospitals, and the equally deplorable practice of sending schizophrenics to jail. Her writing style is engaging, but she lapses occasionally into a self-dramatizing mode that undercuts the seriousness of her concerns. The strength of The Mad, the Bad, and the Innocent is in the examples: dozens of fascinating case histories illustrate, better than any mere argument could, the complex issues involved in deciding who is sick and who is evil.

About the Author:

Barbara R. Kirwin, Ph.D., has been a clinical psychologist and forensic expert for over twenty-five years, has consulted on more than a hundred homicide cases, and has been a commentor on Court TV. She lives on Long Island in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0316494992
• ISBN 13: 9780316494991
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320