"Preventative Corrections": Psychiatric Representation and the Classification of Sexually Violent Predators.
Summary of ""Preventative Corrections": Psychiatric Representation and the Classification of Sexually Violent Predators."
This paper examines the representation of mental illness and mental disorder in the Washington Community Protection Act of 1990 (WCPA), the first package of sexual predator legislation passed in the United States. I focus on the public outcry over a violent crime committed by a repeat sexual offender, Earl Shriner, and show how the act was drafted in direct response to this outcry. Following his arrest, there was a public discussion of a) whether the state had a responsibility to cure individuals like Shriner before releasing them, and b) whether sex offenders could be cured at all. The WCPA was a landmark law because it shifted forensic psychology in the use of sexual criminals from an intervention model to a containment model, from a model that sought to separate out those sexual criminals who could be treated to a model that separated out sexual criminals because they could not be treated. I demonstrate here that this shift was made in response to the representation of Earl Shriner as a member of a group classified by legislators as having a coherent, recognizable and untreatable mental disorder that caused them to commit acts of sexual violence.
Affiliation
Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA, cyd.cipolla@gmail.com.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: The Journal of medical humanities
ISSN: 1573-3645
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21225326
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10912-010-9134-0
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders
Categorical classification of MENTAL DISORDERS based on criteria sets with defining features. It is produced by the American Psychiatric Association. (DSM-IV, page xxii)
Catatonia
A neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by one or more of the following essential features: immobility, mutism, negativism (active or passive refusal to follow commands), mannerisms, stereotypies, posturing, grimacing, excitement, echolalia, echopraxia, muscular rigidity, and stupor; sometimes punctuated by sudden violent outbursts, panic, or hallucinations. This condition may be associated with psychiatric illnesses (e.g., SCHIZOPHRENIA; MOOD DISORDERS) or organic disorders (NEUROLEPTIC MALIGNANT SYNDROME; ENCEPHALITIS, etc.). (From DSM-IV, 4th ed, 1994; APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 1994)
Psychiatric Somatic Therapies
The biologic treatment of mental disorders (e.g., ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY), in contrast with psychotherapy. (Stone, American Psychiatric Glossary, 1988, p159)
Psychiatric Aides
Persons who assist in the routine care of psychiatric persons, usually under the supervision of the nursing department.
Emergency Services, Psychiatric
Organized services to provide immediate psychiatric care to patients with acute psychological disturbances.
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