THE PSYCHIATRIST AND THE LAW

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 1953

These lectures which have won the Isaac Ray Award for their ""contribution to the improvement of the relations of Law and Psychiatry"" attempt to reconcile the lag between jurisprudence and medical science and to eliminate some of the ignorance, and prejudice which the law attaches to psychiatry. From an introductory orientation on the various types of mental and personality disorders, Overholser goes on to show the desuetude of legal views; the many possible variations in the meaning of the word- ""insanity"", the emotional factors which may condition testimony and evidence; the legal aspects of commitments and releases and the limitations of a criterion of mere ""dangerousness""; the introduction of the psychiatrist as witness and the distrust and disrepute which the lawyer associates with this type of medical expert.... Within its special field, this argument opens the way for needed reforms in our legislative thinking and action.

Pub Date: April 24, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION