Law and Psychology Commons^™

Attorneys' And Judges' Needs For Continuing Legal Education On Mental Disability Law: Findings From A Survey, Douglas Mossman Md, Marshall B. Kapp Jd, Mph

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Attorneys leave law school with limited knowledge and skills
concerning the issues that arise in mental disability law. Yet
psychiatrists and psychologists are appearing with increasing
frequency as witnesses in the nation's courts, and more attorneys
and judges can therefore expect to have to deal with testimony from
mental health professionals. To our knowledge, this article is the
first published assessment of practicing attorneys' and judges'
needs for continuing legal education (CLE) on mental disability
issues.

The 267 Dayton-area attorneys and 41 southwestern Ohio judges
who responded to our mailed survey said that one-seventh of their
cases raise issues related …

Make Promises By The Hour: Sex, Drugs, The Ada, And Psychiatric Hospitalization, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

I'Ll Give You Shelter From The Storm: Privilege, Confidentiality, And Confessions Of Crime, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Dangerous Decisions: An Essay On The Mathematics Of Clinical Violence Prediction And Involuntary Hospitalization, Douglas Mossman Md

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This Article has two major purposes. First, it provides a mathematical
description of an ideal procedure for making clinical decisions about patients'
future violence, a description that provides a context for evaluating clinicians'
"dangerousness decisions." For purposes of illustration, the Article uses a specific clinical situation-deciding whether to hospitaize involuntarily a patient
based on his risk of harming another. The Article argues that the decision
involves balancing potential risks to third parties (often the patient's family
members) with the "massive deprivation of liberty and other potential
harms to the patient that could result from confinement. The mathematical
description of the …

True Protection For Persons With Severe Mental Disabilities, Such As Schizophrenia, Involved As Subjects In Research - A Look And Consideration Of The Protection Of Human Subjects , Anne J. Ryan

Journal of Law and Health

This article begins with an in-depth discussion of the UCLA incident followed by the history of protecting human research subjects and a review of the current law intended to protect research participants. Next, it explains the nature of schizophrenia and discusses the topic of schizophrenia and the informed consent process, explaining why persons with schizophrenia warrant more protection than is currently given, especially in the areas of monitoring and informed consent. This article also examines proposed ideas, from various sources, for better protection of the mentally disabled as research subjects. This article concludes with this writer's proposal as to how …

Drug-Induced Alteration Of Psychotic Behavior: Who Benefits?, Gerald J. Schaefer

Journal of Law and Health

Given the debilitating nature of psychosis, those affected are often unable to give informed consent about taking the medication. A crucial question is whether civil or criminal authorities can force the individual to take antipsychotic medication and under what circumstances this should be permitted. This review will focus on the current legal status of involuntary treatment with antipsychotics in various patient populations. The constitutional issues involved will be considered in light of both the patient's and the civil or criminal institution's rights and duties. A review of the literature suggests there is a critical need for a balanced position on …

Paternalism, Civil Commitment And Illness Politics: Assessing The Current Debate And Outlining A Future Direction, Bruce A. Arrigo

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this article is to examine critically the role that both law and psychiatry have played in casting mentally ill persons as deviants, citizen / outsiders caught in a crossfire of illness politics. This examination will focus on those values protected and privileged by the medical and legal professions as reflected in confinement law and policy primarily during the last quarter of the twentieth century. The social, economic and political power these disciplines exercise in the lives of psychiatric citizens raises significant questions concerning the future of involuntary civil commitment both from a clinical and justice policy perspective. …

Competency, Deinstitutionalization, And Homelessness: A Story Of Marginalization, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Unpacking The Myths: The Symbolism Mythology Of Insanity Defense Jurisprudence, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

The insanity defense has been the subject of great controversy. A review of the jurisprudential debate, infamous cases, judicial and legislative decision-making, media coverage, as well as public attitudes, when read in light of scientific and empirical research, reveals a gaping disparity between what we know and how we think about the mentally ill and the insanity defense. The Author argues that this disparity is the result of several operational myths about the mentally ill and the insanity defense. In this Article, the Author focuses on the role of psychiatry, psychology, and mental illness in the law, specifically addressing how …

Beyond Psychiatric Expertise (By Ben Bursten, M.D.), Bruce N. Morton

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review: H. Fingarette & A. Fingarette Hasse, Mental Disabilities And Criminal Responsibilities, John Q. La Fond

Seattle University Law Review

Whether mental illness and related impairments in the human psyche should affect an individual's criminal responsibilityfor law-breaking behavior has always provoked intense andwide-ranging debate. This debate clearly reflects society's lack of consensus concerning the appropriateness and scope of considering mental impairment in assessing individual criminal responsiblility. Thus, it is not unexpected that recently proposals to abolish the insanity defense have been seriously suggested or that noted scholars have urged society to place the disposition of mentally ill offenders in the exclusive hands of experts. That this heated discussion continues unabated should come as no surprise, since legal doctrines which excuse …

The Constitutionality Of Michigan's Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict, John M. Grostic

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will assess the constitutionality of the statute providing for a GBMI verdict by examining the likely, impact of this statute on the constitutional rights of legally insane defendants. Part I will briefly outline the relevant provisions of the GBMI statute. Part II will consider whether legally insane defendants have a constitutional right to an insanity defense. Part III will then argue that some defendants, though legally insane at the time they committed allegedly criminal acts, will nevertheless be found GBMI rather than NGRI.

Report Of Seminar On Law And Medicine, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Charles M. Leibson, John A. Krichbaum, Paul A. Van Pernis, William C. Ball, Galen J. White, Harry N. Peterson, B. J. Anderson, Harvey L. Ruben, William D. Weitzel, Oliver Grant Bruton Jr., Oliver H. Barber Jr., Joe C. Savage, Robert J. Turnley, William G. Winter, L. T. Grant, William D. Grubbs, Charles Landrum Jr., Leslie G. Whitmer, Robert Rich, Edward A. Rothschild

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Reports from the UK/CLE Seminar on Law and Medicine held May 26-28, 1976.

O'Connor V. Donaldson: The Death Of The Quid Pro Quo Argument For A Right To Treatment, Thomas P. Bliss

Cleveland State Law Review

On June 26, 1975, the Supreme Court was confronted with the controversial issue of whether there is a constitutionally guaranteed right to treatment for nondangerous persons who have been involuntarily and civilly committed to mental institutions. The Court avoided this long advocated issue and created the potential for future litigation by holding that a state cannot constitutionally confine a nondangerous individual solely for custodial care if such person can live safely in the outside world, without a finding of more than mere mental illness. This comment will discuss the decision in terms of the most volatile and frequently urged constitutional …

The Terror Neurosis, David I. Sindell

Cleveland State Law Review

In 1934, Strauss and Savitzky wrote a paper' in which they elaborated a particular syndrome known as a "terror neuro- sis," and stated that it was frequently found in such natural disasters as earthquakes, or in sea or military disasters, and mining catastrophes. Physical injuries in these cases, they said, may be slight or absent. For this reason, Strauss and Savitzky objected to the use of the term "traumatic neurosis" on the ground that the neurosis had no physical cause as such.

Legislation Requiring Child To Support Mother In State Asylum Is A Denial Of Equal Protection-Department Of Mental Hygiene V. Kirchner, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The California Department of Mental Hygiene brought suit under section 6650 of the state's Welfare and Institutions Code, a provision commonly known as a relative support statute, against the administratrix to recover 7,500 dollars from the intestate's estate. This amount represented the cost of food, housing, and treatment received by intestate's mother in a state mental hospital during the four years she had been confined there following a civil sanity hearing. Plaintiff was granted judgment on the pleadings. On appeal to the California Supreme Court, held, reversed. Since mental hospitals serve a proper public function, it is a denial …

The Senile Testator: Medicolegal Aspects Of Competency, Robert Gene Smith, Laurence M. Hager

Cleveland State Law Review

The law has failed to recognize recent advances in geriatric psychiatry. Moreover, where medical language has been used, the terminology is either outdated or misapplied. What follows is an attempt to describe the nature and policy of the legal standard for testamentary competency, to set forth the current medical approach to senility and mental disease, and to suggest practical ways for the lawyer to use geriatric psychiatry in behalf of the senile testator.

Criminal Law - Insane Persons - Competency To Stand Trial, John H. Hess M.D., Henry B. Pearsall S.Ed., Donald A. Slichter S.Ed., Herbert E. Thomas M.D.

Michigan Law Review

Mental unsoundness in a person accused of a crime raises two distinct legal questions. One is the question of the individual's responsibility for his behavior and the other is the question of the individual's competency to enter into the legal procedures of trial or punishment. In recent years considerable attention has been given to matters of responsibility, but relatively little attention has been paid to the problem of incompetency and especially to the consequences of incompetency proceedings. In order to analyze and evaluate the operations of the Michigan law in the area of incompetency to stand trial, two psychiatrists joined …

Criminal Law - Insane Persons - Influence Of Mental Illness On The Parole Return Process, David G. Davies S.Ed., John H. Hess M.D.

Michigan Law Review

Defendants in the criminal process are divided into rigidly exclusive categories of mental health. The competent to stand trial are first separated from the incompetent. Then the competent are divided on the basis of their mental state at the time of their acts between the "sane" and the "insane." As long as these rigid categories are administered in an adversary trial system, some misdirection of victims of serious mental illness into the penal system is almost inevitable. Even where mental illness might otherwise prevent conviction, those accused of non-capital felonies are not likely to raise the question, and few courts …

Commitment Of The Mentally Ill: Problems Of Law And Policy, Hugh Alan Ross

Michigan Law Review

A number of recent events makes it timely to reconsider certain aspects of the relation between psychiatry and the law. In the past decade, both the public and the legal profession have been increasingly concerned with the impact of mental illness on the law. In 1952, an outstanding text, Psychiatry and The Law, was published as the joint effort of a lawyer and a psychiatrist. Two years later the Durham case laid down a new test of insanity in criminal cases, rejecting the M'Naghten rule. Interest in the case resulted in a host of law review articles, symposiums, and …

Mental Illness And The Law Of Contracts, Robert M. Brucken S.Ed., David L. Genger S.Ed., Denis T. Rice S.Ed., Mark Shaevsky S.Ed., William R. Slye S.Ed., Robert P. Volpe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The traditional and most important problem relative to mental illness and the contract is the situation created when mental illness exists at the time of agreement (the problem of contractual capacity). One principal result of mental illness at this time may be the avoidance of the contract by the mentally ill person. Since case law in this area is extensive, the major portion of the study is concerned with this problem (parts II, III and IV) and the effects of such incapacity throughout the remaining course of the contract. Mental illness occurring after agreement and at the time of performance …

Constitutional Law - Criminal Law - Power Of Federal Government To Commit Mentally Incompetent Persons Charged With Federal Crimes, William C. Becker S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was indicted for robbery from a United States Post Office. After a series of hearings and examinations, the district court found petitioner so mentally incompetent that he could not stand trial, and that, if released, he would probably endanger the safety of the officers, property, or other interests of the United States. The district court ordered petitioner committed to the custody of the Attorney General for confinement in a mental institution. This order was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, one judge dissenting. On certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States, held, …

Involuntary Psychiatry In Nova Scotia: The Review Board Reports (1979-1983) And Recent Proposals For Legislative Change, H Archibald Kaiser

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Nova Scotia Psychiatric Facilities Review Board, appointed under s. 53 of the Hospitals Act1, fulfils many vital functions affecting the treatment and liberty of the patient involuntarily confined in the psychiatric hospitals of the Province.2 Although its proceedings are held in camera,3 the Board fortunately publishes an Annual Report which is tabled in the House of Assembly.4 Neither lay persons aor lawyers are likely to scrutinize these documents and this Comment is intended in part to redress this regrettable disregard as well as to offer some critical remarks. They contain material which will both hearten and disturb the reader, …

Criminal Law - Reexamination Of Tests For Criminal Responsibility, Mary Lee Ryan

Michigan Law Review

Criminal law in the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence is based upon the concept that persons should be held responsible for their acts. A strong corrollary to this idea is that certain types of persons, namely the "insane," should not be held responsible for criminal conduct. Although this proposition seems beautifully simple, courts in England and the United States for over a hundred years have wrestled with the problem of what constitutes insanity, or, to phrase it more accurately, what type of mental condition should preclude responsibility for a criminal act.