Myths, realities, and the political world: the anthropology of insanity defense attitudes.
The author presents the case that society's efforts to understand the insanity defense and insanity-pleading defendants are doomed to intellectual, moral, and political gridlock unless we are willing to take a fresh look at the doctrine through a series of filters-empirical research, scientific discovery, moral philosophy, cognitive and moral psychology, and sociology-in an effort to confront the single most important (but rarely asked) question: why do we feel the way we do about "these people" (insanity pleaders)? He examines this question finally through a model of structural anthropology and concludes that until we come to grips with the extent to which ours is a "culture of punishment," we can make no headway in solving the insanity defense dilemma.
New York Law School, New York 10013, USA.
M L
ML
Perlin
D004989:Ethics; D006801:Humans; D007298:Insanity Defense; D007603:Jurisprudence; D010684:Philosophy; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012945:Social Values