Gerben Meynen 
Legal Insanity: Explorations in Psychiatry, Law, and Ethics 

This book examines core issues related to legal insanity, integrating perspectives from psychiatry, law, and ethics. Various criteria for insanity are analyzed and recommendations for forensic psychiatric and legal practice are offered. Many legal systems have an insanity defense, in one form or another. Still, it remains unclear exactly when and why mental disorders affect a person’s moral or criminal responsibility. Questions addressed in this book include: Why should insanity be a component of our legal system? What should be the criteria for an insanity defense? What would be the reasons for abolishing it? Who should bear the burden of proof? Furthermore, the book discusses the impact neurosciences may have on psychiatric and psychological evaluations of defendants as well as on legal decisions about insanity.  

Table of Content

Preface.- Introduction.- Legal insanity standards: their structure and elements.- arguments against the insanity defense and responses.- Lack of free will and irrationality.- Competent and compromised decision-making.- Neurolaw: challenges and opportunities.- Issues to consider when revising legal insanity.- Concluding observations on the present and future of insanity.- References.- Index.- About the author.

About the author

Gerben Meynen received a Ph.D. in Philosophy and in Medicine. He is an endowed professor of Forensic Psychiatry (Tilburg University) and an endowed professor of Ethics and Psychiatry (VU University Amsterdam). Since 2006, he has been a psychiatrist at GGZ in Geest, Amsterdam.