Self-Made Madness ― Rethinking Illness and Criminal Responsibility

Mitchell (U. of Oxford, UK) describes and examines the notion that mentally disordered offenders may, to varying degrees, be responsible for the causation or exacerbation of their own mental disorder and, therefore, their concomitant criminal responsibility. Coverage includes historical, legal, philosophical, and clinical issues, followed by an experimental investigation using mock jurors to examine the meta-responsibility theory. Analyzing data from the study, Mitchell examines the effect of manipulating information concerning a defendant's meta-responsibility on insanity defense verdicts in mock jurors, and the effect of a meta-responsibility insanity test in comparison to the McNaughton Rules. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dr. Edward W. Mitchell is an Associate at the Centre for Criminological Research and Probation Studies Unit, University of Oxford and a Junior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford. He has a first degree in experimental psychology and a masters and doctorate in criminology from Cambridge. He was also a fellow at Harvard.