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NCJ Number: 152529
Title: Book Review Essay: Recent Studies in Mental Disability and Law
Journal: Criminal Justice Review Volume:19 Issue:1 Dated:(Spring 1994) Pages:69-78
Author(s): N G Poythress
Date Published: 1994
Page Count: 10
Type: Issue Overview
Format: Article
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Annotation: This essay considers four recent books that represent various forms of psycholegal scholarship in mental disability law.
Abstract: Two are comprehensive case studies that address mental disability and capital punishment. The "Penry Penalty" by E.F. Reed considers the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case of Penry v. Lynaugh and the Court's analysis and reasoning in determining that, under some circumstances, it may be permissible for States to impose the death penalty on some mentally retarded persons. "Executing the Mentally Ill" by K.S. Miller and M.L. Radelet addresses issues in the legal review of death penalty cases in which it is alleged that the defendant is incompetent to be executed and examines the unresolved problems following the Supreme Court's decision in the 1986 case of Ford v. Wainwright. A third book, "Before and After Hinckley: Evaluating Insanity Defense Reform" by Henry J. Steadman, Margaret A. McGreevy, Joseph P. Morrissey, Lisa A. Callahan, Pamela Clark Robbins, and Carmen Cirincione, reports findings from a multistate study of various insanity defense reforms, virtually all of which were intended by their legislative sponsors to reduce or eliminate the use of the insanity defense to criminal responsibility. "Back to the Asylum" by J.Q. LaFond and M.L. Durham provides a comprehensive review of social and legal policy regarding persons with mental disability in the United States over the past half- century. This book provides a historical perspective that facilitates integration of these other three studies into a broader analytic scheme of recent social policy.
Main Term(s): Court procedures
Index Term(s): Capital punishment; Insanity defense; Law reform; Legislation; Mental health services; Mentally ill offenders; Offenders with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities
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