May 15, 2010
Courtroom experiences of a forensic psychologist.
Paradis has spent more than two decades evaluating mentally ill and violent individuals and giving expert testimony in court. Here she details criminal cases in which the prosecution or defense asked her to establish whether defendants were competent to stand trial, or to vet such psychiatric defenses as insanity and extreme emotional disturbance. The cases, all tried in New York City, are fascinating, unsettling and often horrifying. A mentally ill Manhattan man ("The Butcher of Tompkins Square Park") killed, dismembered and cooked his roommate. A former mental patient shot wildly into a group of sanitation workers, wounding two of them, in the belief that they were alien invaders. A resident in a single-room occupancy building who claimed to be a supreme being working for the CIA stabbed and killed an elderly neighbor. The author also discusses the psycho-legal issues of cases involving juveniles and abused wives. To make her evaluations, Paradis conducts interviews, administers psychological tests, studies hospital records and searches for any other information that will help answer key questions: Is a defendant ill (delusional, paranoid, schizophrenic, etc.) or faking mental illness? What was the mental state at the time of the crime? She notes that many cases pose moral dilemmas:"If a man obeys the voice of God instructing him to attack his mother, for example, is he really guilty and responsible for committing this crime? And should he be imprisoned or sent to a psychiatric hospital?" Paradis offers broad insights into mental illness and the courts. Most defendants who go to trial pleading insanity, she writes, are found guilty and stay in forensic hospitals for years. No matter what the psychiatric testimony, juries are always swayed by personal feelings toward the defendant. A defendant's state of mind is best determined from his videotaped statement made immediately after his arrest; those who are psychotic when committing an offense may be on medications and much improved when interviewed weeks later.
A welcome inside account.
(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
August 1, 2010
Insanity pleas are infrequently used (about one percent of cases) and rarely successful (about 20 percent of these cases), yet the circumstances involving them are often more captivating than fiction. Furthermore, these cases raise compelling issues about human nature, good and evil, and free will. Paradis (psychology, Marymount Manhattan Coll.), a forensic psychologist, describes 18 of her most challenging cases spanning more than 20 years. Perpetrators include "subway pushers," battered wives who kill, mentally deranged murderers, and those who attempt "suicide by cop." Their psychiatric defenses include extreme emotional disturbance, brain disease/damage, and even sleep medication side effects. In the second half, Paradis covers legal competency evaluations and juveniles and the assessment of malingering or faking psychiatric symptoms to avoid guilt. The author's use of established psychological testing tools and interviewing techniques is instructive, and the vignettes are written in a clear narrative style. Several cases include sufficient courtroom detail to serve as script outlines for a forensic psychology series. VERDICT This authoritative and even riveting introduction to "neurolaw" should appeal to aspiring lawyers, mental competency specialists, and devotees of courtroom drama.--Antoinette Brinkman, M.L.S., Evansville, IN
Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2010
Dedicated true-crime fans have enjoyed a torrent of police procedurals, forensic how-tos, and psychological studies of the inner workings of heinous miscreants in recent years. Now forensic psychologist Paradis unleashes something of an amalgam of those approaches in this insightful work, which mixes in lots of bloody details with the authors professional assessments. The three parts of the book (Mental State at Time of Offense Evaluations, Competency Evaluations, and Evaluations of Juveniles and Assessments of Dangerousness and Malingering) open with brief summaries of germane legal questions and distillations of psychological issues involved. Chapters within the sections detail specific cases and Paradis interactions with the individual criminals. Bits of scientific methodology share page space with visceral detail, as in the case of wife-killer Mr. Paulson, who, in the course of an evaluation exercise, drew a nude woman in high-heeled boots, contributing to Paradis conclusion that the subject showed poor judgment and self-awareness despite his superior intellectual skills. Between the authors personal tales of interaction with fiends and her descriptions of subsequent court testimony, this is an excellent and entertaining bit of grim if occasionally clinical reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)