In 1999, policymakers in England and Wales advanced controversial proposals for the preventive detention of a group they termed 'dangerous people with severe personality disorders'. Against a background of uncertain scientific knowledge, legal and policy actors have long faced challenges in reconciling the need to prevent crime with the need to respect the rights of the 'dangerous'. Ailbhe O'Loughlin's book, Law and Personality Disorder, situates contemporary debates about 'dangerous' offenders within this decades-old battle between the proponents of liberal legal principles and advocates of social defence. Law and Personality Disorder deconstructs competing images of offenders with personality disorders and the dilemmas they present, combining insights from criminology, psychiatry, psychology, and law. The book thus critically engages with an alluring narrative: the state has a duty to protect the public from 'dangerous' individuals, but it can also protect the human rights of the 'dangerous' by providing them with rehabilitation opportunities. While human rights law is often invoked as a means of curbing the excesses of preventive justice, O'Loughlin demonstrates that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights tends to legitimise coercive measures. Criminal law, furthermore, enables the punishment of offenders with mental disorders by resisting psychiatric evidence that they may not be fully responsible for their actions. Examining gaps in sentencing law, mental health law, and human rights law, this innovative book offers readers a comprehensive interpretation of the laws governing offenders with personality disorders and puts forward proposals for reform.

Psychopaths constitute less than 1% of the general population but over 20% of prison populations. They commit a disproportionate amount of crime and violence in society. Given that the economic burden of crime in the United States is estimated to be over $2.3 trillion per year, psychopaths likely constitute one of the most expensive mental health conditions known today. This volume chronicles the latest science of psychopathy and the various ways the condition intersects with the criminal justice system. From the modern techniques to assess the symptoms, to its utility in predicting violent recidivism, to the latest neuroscience youth and adults, and the most promising avenues for treatment, this volume captures the modern science of the condition and discusses ethical and legal issues surrounding psychopaths.

Psychopathy and Law: A Practitioner's Guide provides those working in the fields of law, the military, social and health services, politics, and business with a comprehensive introduction to psychopathy and the ways of thinking that guide the psychopathic mind. Features case examples and - unique from previous texts in the field - links these to theory and empirical research Represents an up-to-date resource for scientists examining psychopathy Covers issues that have never been dealt with in regard to psychopathy, including those relating to families, civil law, war crimes, economical crimes and organized crimes

The discussion of whether psychopaths are morally responsible for their behaviour has long taken place in philosophy. In recent years this has moved into scientific and psychiatric investigation. Responsibility and Psychopathy discusses this subject from both the philosophical and scientific disciplines, as well as a legal perspective.

Annotation. The idea that multiple personalities can exist within the same body has long captured the Western imagination. From Three Faces of Eve to Sybil, from Pyscho to Raising Caine, from 60 Minutes to Oprah to One Life to Live, we are captivated by the fate of multiples who, divided against themselves, wreak havoc in the lives of others. Why do we find multiple personality disorder (MPD) so fascinating? Perhaps because each of us is aware of a dividedness within ourselves: we often feel as if we are one person on the job, another with our families, another with our friends and lovers. We may fantasize that these inner discrepancies will someday break free, that within us lie other personalities--genius, lover, criminal--that will take us over and render us strangers to our very selves. What happens when such a transformation literally occurs, when an alter personality surfaces and commits some heinous deed? What do we do when a Billy Milligan is arrested for a series of rapes and robberies, of which the original personality, Billy, is utterly oblivious? What happens when a Juanita Maxwell, taken over by her alter personality, Wanda, becomes enraged and commits a murder which would horrify Juanita? Who really committed these deeds? Are alter personalities people? Are they centers of consciousness which are akin to people? Mere parts of a deeply divided person? Who should held accountable for the crimes? Which is more appropriate--punishment or treatment? In Jekyll on Trial, Elyn R. Saks carefully delineates how MPD forces us to re-examine our central concepts of personhood, responsibility, and punishment. Drawing on law, psychiatry, and philosophy, Saks explores the nature of alter personalities, and shows how different conceptualizations bear on criminal responsibility. A wide-ranging and deeply informed book, Jekyll on Trial is must reading for anyone interested in law, criminal justice, psychiatry, or human behavior.

Reflecting the work of an international panel of experts, the International Handbook on Psychopathic Disorders and the Law offers an in-depth and multidisciplinary look at key aspects of the development and etiology of psychopathic disorders, current methods of intervention, treatment and management, and how these disorders impact decision making in civil and criminal law.

This book looks at what happened when the government of Victoria, Australia, enacted special legislation to detain one person with a severe antisocial personality disorder on the grounds of his presumed dangerousness, despite the fact that he did not fit within the ordinary criteria of mental illness or criminality. In doing so, it interfered with the law's protection of civil rights and also with professional distinctions between a certifiable mental illness and the broader concept of mental disorder. The ensuing legal processes highlighted the ambiguous, contingent and negotiable nature of the boundary between badness and madness. The issues raised by this case transcend a government's singular action, highlighting matters such as the duty of care in a forensic setting; diagnostic uncertainties; debates about treatment; the responsibility of politicians to protect the community; and the difficulties inherent in translating clinical concepts into an acceptable legal format. Neither Bad Nor Mad analyses the interaction between psychiatry and the law in an absorbing account of one case with extensive ramifications.