Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Criminal Insane in the United States and in Foreign Countries
The softened modern sentiment toward the insane exposes society to a new danger. It is that criminals may take advantage of the plea of insanity to secure acquittal or commitment to a hospital instead of to a prison. The necessity, therefore, of protecting the prisoner on one hand and of protecting society on the other has introduced marked changes in modern law and methods of practice in the courts of civi lized countries. We are obliged to ask to-day whether the prisoner was sane when the act with which he is charged was committed. At least we are obliged to meet this question whenever it is raised. He may have been sane when the act was committed and be insane at the time of his trial, or he may have been insane when the act was committed though sane at the time of trial, or he may become insane after he is convicted and sentenced and while serving his term in prison. The irresponsibility of the prisoner thus creates a new responsibility for society. It is the responsibility, first, of determining whether an accused person is or was mentally diseased, and then of deciding what form of treatment the person shall receive. It may be acquittal if his recovery and harmlessness are beyond doubt, or it may be committal to a hospital or to a Special asylum for the criminal insane. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
