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The Mind of the Criminal

The Mind of the Criminal The Role of Developmental Social Cognition in Criminal Defense Law

Author: Reid Griffith Fontaine
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521513760
Published In: March 2012
Format: Hardback , 280 pages
Jurisdiction: U.S. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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In American criminal law, if a defendant demonstrates that they lack certain psychological capabilities, they may be excused of blame and punishment for wrongdoing. However, criminal defense law often fails to consider the developmental science of individual differences in ability and functioning that may inform jurisprudential issues of rational capacity and responsibility in criminal law. This book discusses the excusing nature of a range of both traditional and non-traditional criminal law defenses and questions the structure of these defenses based on scientific findings from social and developmental psychology. This book explores how research on individual differences in the development of social perception, judgment and decision making explain why some youths and adults develop psychological tendencies that favor criminal behavior, and considers how developmental science can guide the understanding of criminal excuses and affirmative defense law.

• Draws from several fields of study, including (but not limited to) psychology, law, psychiatry, criminology, public policy studies, philosophy and sociology

• Recognizes the contributions in empirical research on the development of social cognition and antisocial behavior to criminal defense law

• Clarifies the nature, structure and function of each criminal defense discussed prior to investigating intersections between psychological science and said defenses

Preface	ix
1. A Meeting of Developmental Social Cognition and Criminal Jurisprudence and Law	1
2. Developmental Social Cognition and Antisocial Behavior: Theory and Science	31
3. Substandard Rational Capacity and Criminal Responsibility	67
4. Underdeveloped Rationality and Wrongdoing in Youth	92
5. Moral Subrationality and the Propensity for Wrongdoing	123
6. Provocation Interpretational Bias and Heat-of-Passion Homicide	149
7. Reacting to Perceived Threats: Mistaken Self-Defense and Duress	178
8. Developmental Social Cognition, the Effects of Chronic Abuse and Trauma, and Reactive Homicide	210
9. Toward a More Psychologically Informed Approach to Social Rationality and Excusing Conditions in Criminal Law	238
Index Index	251