PTSD in the Criminal Justice System II: The Insanity Defense and Diminished Capacity

Abstract

The fields of psychology and criminal justice are like two twins, separated at birth, who discover later in life that they have been living on the same block and working in the same place their entire lives. Both fields concern themselves with the nuances of human thought, emotion, intention, volition, behavioral expression, and self-control—in one case as it applies to clinical diagnosis and treatment, in the other, as it relates to criminal motivation, blameworthiness, and punishment.