1st Edition

Madness and Crime

By Philip Bean Copyright 2008
    204 Pages
    by Willan

    204 Pages
    by Willan

    This book provides an authoritative and highly readable review of the relationship between madness and crime by one of the leading authorities in the field. The book is divided into four parts, each essay focusing on selected features of madness which have relevance to contemporary society.

    Part 1 is about madness itself, exploring three main models − cognitive, statistical, and emotional. Part 2 is a short discussion on madness, genius and creativity. Part 3 is about the much neglected area of compulsion, an issue that has largely disappeared from public debate. The mad may have moved from victim to violator, yet fundamental questions remain − in particular how to justify compulsory detention, and who should undertake the process? The answers to these questions have sociological, ethical and jurisprudential elements, and cannot just re resolved by reference to medical authorities. Part 4 is about the links between madness and crime − focusing less on the question and nature of criminal responsibility and the various defences that go with this, more on the links between madness and crime and which particular crimes are linked with which types of disorder.

    Part 1: Some Thoughts on the Nature of Madness  1. Introduction and overview  2. Madness and the disease model  3. An empirical theory of madness  4. Empirical, statistical and emotional theories compared  5. An assessment of empiricist theories of madness  Part 2: Madness as genius, and madness as an aid to creativity  Part 3: Restraining the mad: justifications for compulsory detention  6. Detaining the mad  7. De jure and de facto detentions  8. A note on liberty  9. Mental health law and formal law  10. Typical legal justifications and their limitations  11. The impact of compulsion  12. Who does the detaining?  13. Paternalism v. autonomy  14. Summary and conclusion  Part 4: Madness and crime  15. Some methodological problems in the madness and crime nexus  16. An overview of the problem  17. Psychiatric services in the penal system: an overview 18. A model for examining the links between madness (mental disorder) and crime  19. Comments on future research  20. Summary and conclusion

    Biography

    Philip Bean is Emeritus Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Loughborough University, and a former Director of the Midlands Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice.