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

"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.