Manifest Madness’

Towards a New Understanding of the Insanity Defence

Bibliographic Data

ID9197494
AuthorsArlie Loughnan (0000-0001-9971-5628, The University of Sydney, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume70
Issue3
Pages379-401
Publication date2007-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Law Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-7961 • E-ISSN: 1468-2230
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-2230.2007.00643.x
OpenAlexW2107995138
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited6

This article introduces a new concept which can serve as a theoretical frame for understanding the way in which insanity is proved for the purposes of the criminal law. With reference to George Fletcher's concept of ‘manifest criminality’, it introduces the concept of ‘manifest madness’. This concept constructs madness (a shorthand for the types of mental abnormality known to the criminal law as insanity) in criminal law as evident to lay observers, and its meanings, which are derived from collective knowledge of it, as encoded in the defendant's acts. Through an historical analysis of the way in which insanity has been proved in criminal law, the article argues that ‘manifest madness’ is useful for understanding how knowledge about insanity is structured in the criminal courtroom. The concept of ‘manifest madness’ provides a frame that incorporates evidentiary and procedural features of the insanity defence that have resisted systematic theoretical analysis

Criminal law · Criminology · Frame (networking) · Insanity · Insanity defense · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Political science · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Computer Science · Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub