Crime and Insanity in England Crime and insanity in England : the historical perspective

Type

Book

Authors

Walker, Nigel

ISBN 10

0852240171

ISBN 13

9780852240175

LCCN

KD 7897 .W34

Tags

Insanity (law), Great Britain, dangerously mentally ill, Mentally ill offenders, Violent offenders, Louis A. Knafla, United Kingdom Crime and Punishment, Crime and punishment, United Kingdom

Series Name

Crime and Insanity in England

Abstract

This is one of two books intended to give a comprehensive account of the development of the modern English apporach to the problem of the mentally-disordered offender. It is concerned with the traditional legal problems: the culpability of the offender, his fitness for trial, the need for the prerogative of mercy. It ranges from pre-Norman England to the Mental health Act, and treats largely of insanity as a defense, via Hale and Bracton, the 18th-century trials, the Hadfield case, to M'Naghten and 'the Rules' in action. The Scottish origins, and English importation, of the defense of diminished responsibility, are freshly examined. Automatism, drunkenness, infanticide, the use of the royal prerogative of mercy, and insanity as an obstacle to trial, are also considered in some depth.

Description

Contents:
1. Saxons and Normans
2. From Bracton to hale
3. Some Eighteenth-century Trials
4. Hadfield and Others
5. M'Naghten's case and the Rules
6. The Rules in Action
7. Infanticide
8. Diminished responsibility in Scotland
9. Diminished responsibility Imported
10. Automatism and Drunkenness
11. Insanity and Treason
12. The King's Mercy
13. The Home Secretary's Mercy
14. Insanity on Arraignment
Epilogue: The End of and Old Song

Biblio Notes

Includes biographical references (pages [279]-287) and index.
Item has been generously donated by Louis A. Knafla.

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