Mental Disability, Violence, and Future Dangerousness: Myths Behind the Presumption of Guilt

Individuals with severe mental illness are greatly over-represented in the U.S. criminal justice system, and the need for policymakers to address this growing problem is paramount. In Mental Disability, Violence and Future Dangerousness: Myths Behind the Presumption of Guilt, Parry provides a multidisciplinary analysis of the laws and mental health policies that affect individuals with mental illness. As one of the foremost authorities on mental disability law, Parry provides comprehensive coverage of the relevant laws and social science research, and he offers his characteristically insightful and detailed analysis. This book will surely prove indispensable to legal professionals, mental health practitioners, and policymakers, and it should serve as a blueprint for change. -- David DeMatteo, JD, PhD, director, JD/PhD Program in Law & Psychology, associate professor of Psychology & Law, Drexel University This is an elegant, tightly-reasoned, provocative re-examination of the misleading ways that predictions of future dangerousness and biased 'expert testimony' have poisoned the criminal justice system. It exposes the reasons that undermine the fundamental fairness of what our system should be. It is the most important book to tackle these issues in years. -- Michael L. Perlin, professor, director of International Mental Disability Law Reform Project, and director, Online Mental Disability Law Program New York Law School Mental Disability, Violence and Future Dangerousness: Myths Behind the Presumption of Guilt is a passionate and articulate indictment of how America cares for its citizens who have serious mental disorders. John Weston Parry meticulously chronicles the serial debacles produced by decades of fear-driven mental health policy-making. Some will disagree with the boldness of Parry's remedial proposals, but all will benefit from engaging in the crucial conversations that this important book will unleash. -- John Monahan, Shannon Distinguished Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry, University of Virginia John Parry's new book is an ambitious and successful effort to integrate civil and criminal mental disability law. His review of the cases decided over the last four decades offers a valuable perspective on the case law, and is thoroughly grounded with a sensitivity to the realities of life for individuals who have (or are said to have) mental disabilities. -- James W. Ellis, Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law, University of New Mexico.