PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ciccone, J. Richard
AU  - Clements, Colleen
TI  - The Insanity Defense: Asking and Answering the Ultimate Question
DP  - 1987 Dec 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 329--338
VI  - 15
IP  - 4
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/15/4/329.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/15/4/329.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law1987 Dec 01; 15
AB  - The authors address the main questions in the insanity defense debate: Should it be abolished? Should psychiatrists participate as expert witnesses? Is the profession damaged by such testimony? Is there a logical leap between providing psychiatric findings and providing an opinion to the ultimate question? Because the free will/determinism model underlying the current insanity defense positions can be used to argue either side of the debate, it does not supply any rational answers. The authors reframe the discussion, using a systems approach, and suggest answers to these questions that are in line with the clinical realities and on a firmer philosophic ground.