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ISAAC RAY.   Term Paper ID:29660 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: His contribution to forensic psychiatry. His efforts to humanize treatment of mentally ill offenders in criminal courts. Development of the insanity defense. Ray's early life and career. His theory of moral insanity; naturalistic view of human beings. The 1843 McNaughton case and ruling. Ray's books on different facets of mental health and crime. Paper Introduction: ISAAC RAY This research paper summarizes the life, contributions to criminology and influence of Isaac Ray (1807-1881). A man of many interests and talents, Ray pursued a long and distinguished career as a psychiatrist, a mental health administrator, writer, lecturer and community leader. He was the leading figure in the United States in the 19th century in the field of forensic psychiatry. He is best known for his efforts, sustained over several decades, to bring about reforms in the way in which criminal courts determined whether a defendant was insane. Ray wielded great influence within his profession. His views on the insanity defense were quoted by courts in America and Great Britain. They were highly controversial because he challenged the legal and scientific status quo and was an uncompromising Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Mind, medicine and man. Diamond, B. 68). Assessment of Ray's Influence Ray's influence within the field of forensic psychiatry during hislife was evidenced by the recognition afforded him by his peers whichincluded presidency of the Rhode Island Medical Society (1855) and theAmerican Psychiatric Association (1855-1859 and 1867). (1999, April). Overholser, W. 2 3). (1984). 195). 19 -193). Reik, L. 1 ). . a bruteor a wild beast" (Hibbert, p. the factof its existence is never established by a single diagnostic symptom, butby the whole body of symptoms, no particular one of which is present inevery case" (pp. Asrefined, the McNaghten Rule states that "to establish a defense on theground of insanity, it must be clearly proven that at the time ofcommitting the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defect ofreason, from disease of mind, as not to know the nature and quality of theact he was doing or, if he did know it, that he did not know what he wasdoing was wrong" (Pate, p. . However, Ray inthe field of mental illness challenged even earlier the prevailingassumption that people who committed crimes while they were insane did sobecause their reason had been affected. He later apprenticed under a local Portland, Maine physician, and Dr.George Shattuck, a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. The Doe-Ray correspondence:A pioneer collaboration in the jurisprudence of mental disease.Yale Law Journal 63: 184-196. . New York: Garland. Fersten, & J. . Ray's Treatise appeared at a time when English courts had begun totake a somewhat more liberal view of the insanity defense. 19 ). Defense counsel forM'Naghten, who had shot and killed Prime Minister Robert Peel's personalsecretary, used Ray's Treatise as the basis for his defense (Diamond, 1956,pp. .deterministic view" (pp. As a result of David M'Naghten's Case (1843), the so-calledMcNaghten Rule became the dominant definition of legal insanity in criminaltrials in Great Britain and the United States. The M'Naghten Rule, modified in 1957to include the concept of diminished responsibility, remains the law inGreat Britain. 2 ). 256). 13). naturalistic viewof human beings; the mind and the behavior it manifested were aspects of aperson's physical nature [much of which was inherited] . In his 1835 article, he said that the law "looked onlybackward, and its preoccupation with precedent all but excluded scientificprogress" and that "nearly all the common law of insanity touchingresponsibility for crime . 9).In his Treatise, Ray said that "insanity is a disease, and, . Ray never ceased believing in phrenology. He addressed the question -- what process should beemployed before a person can be legally committed to a mental institution?According to Hughes, in the 183 s Ray argued for the necessity for legalsafeguards. (Ph.D.diss.) Florida State University, 2 2 (Internet: http://www.criminology.fall.edu/crimtheory/2 2/rayfinaldraft, doc., 1-34. Z. Another area in which Ray took controversial positions was the civilcommitment process. . Psychiatry and the law: A historyof our duty to protect. W. Bordenn, W. 15). In his Treatise he had suggestedthat the government should appoint a four-member commission, including atleast one psychiatrist which would hear testimony concerning the defendantfrom psychiatrists who examined him or her and would make thatdetermination on referral by a criminal trial judge. 2 2). According to Overholser, Ray was "by far themost influential American writer in forensic psychiatry in the wholenineteenth century" (p. In 1845, he became even better known onthe Continent where he toured European asylums. Isaac Ray and the trial of DanielM'naghten. 24 .Moreover, very few defendants invoke the insanity defense successfully(Pate, p. 35 & 37). 39-4 ). Pate remarked that "Ray's ideas were largely ignored and disbelievedduring his own lifetime" or subsequently (p. American Journal of Psychiatry 112: 651-656. He said "the logic of Ray's view of medical jurisprudence was totranslate a moral question -- whether to assign personal responsibility[for the commission of a crime]--into a medical one. In part that was due tothe forceful, black and white manner in which he often put forward hisviews. Treatise on the medical jurisprudence ofinsanity. Pate said that afterthe 183 s "Ray focused his attention almost exclusively on insanity and thelaw" (p. Themajority on that Court accepted that view in State v. Pate says that"criticisms of the M'Naghten Rule has come from both legal and medicalprofessions" (p. L. G. His attachmentto phrenology left the impression that his views were outdated.As for his emphatic advocacy, Fink said that in the 19th century, "strongcharacters were attracted to the formulation of hypotheses of criminalbehavior and were ready to defend them against all attacks" (p. ISAAC RAY This research paper summarizes the life, contributions to criminologyand influence of Isaac Ray (18 7-1881). However, Hibbert(1963) said that "in the criminal law of the Middle Ages very little noticewas taken of the insane and insanity could not usually be pleaded inextenuation of a criminal act except in the case of wild lunatics" (p.2 1 ). Boston: Minerva Press. . Many scholarlypublications and awards, including the annual Isaac Ray lectures, which aregiven by distinguished forensic psychiatrists and legal writers every year,continued or were initiated after his death. 651-656). The roots of evil a social history ofcrime and punishment. In 1844, he co-founded the Association of Medical Superintendentsof American Institutions for the Insane (later called the AmericanPsychiatric Association). 273). Allen et al. Isaac Ray: A pioneer in criminology. This clashed with the dominant post-Enlightenment view of the mid-19th century, under which man was defined "asa rational creature who was free to choose good over evil" (Hughes, p.xiv). Hibbert saidthat in the early 19th century "no one was clear what insanity, in a legalsense, actually meant" (p. Fink (1984) said the Treatise was "the firstsystematic treatise on medical jurisprudence" (p. A. S. Hughes, J. As a result of the Treatise and the M'Naghten case, Ray became wellknown in English and American legal as well as psychiatric circles. xiv-xv). Charles Darwin with his theory of natural selection as the basis forevolution of the species would soon challenge that view. According to Hughes, Ray's theoryof moral insanity held that the criminally insane "had a form of thedisease in which a person could be fully aware that his behavior was wrongyet be unable to control himself" (p. Hughes suggested that the controversy overRay's views was the inevitable result of the conflict between scientificand lay points of view, between his deterministic approach to the etiologyof crime and the more moralistic voluntarism of the Anglo-American legalsystem. Pike (1869) and Ray'sthesis that a defendant should be acquitted "if the killing was offspringor product of mental disease" (Reik, p. Ray wielded great influencewithin his profession. E. (Internet: http://www.emory.edu/AAPL/newslatter/N242hist_justice.html, 1-4. A man of many interests andtalents, Ray pursued a long and distinguished career as a psychiatrist, amental health administrator, writer, lecturer and community leader. Boston: Little, Brown. However, in 1812 in the trial ofBellingham, Sir John Masefield held that a defendant could be acquitted ifit could be proven that he or she "lacked sufficient understanding todistinguish good and evil" at the time of the act in question (Weihofer,1933, p. Ray's Theory of Moral Insanity In the mid-to-late 183 s, Ray began to express in lectures andarticles in Charles Sumner's American Jurist and later in his first book,Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity (1838), his views in thefield of forensic psychiatry. In the law's darkness: Isaac Ray andmedical jurisprudence of insanity in nineteenth-century America.New York: Oceana Publications. Doe in his dissent in Boardman v. 249). (1982). Rubin (Eds.). After his retirementfrom Butler in 1867, he moved to Philadelphia where he spent the rest ofhis life. His enhanced reputation helped him land in 1845one of the most prestigious mental health administrative posts,Superintendent of the new and modern for its time Butler Hospital for theInsane in Providence, Rhode Island. 29). Insanity as a defense in criminal law.New York: Commonwealth Fund. Weihofer, H. (1933). N. Ray's Continuing Battle to Change the Law on Insanity In 185 , Ray proposed A Project of the Law Regulating the LegalRelations of the Insane. a . theweight of opinion, lay and professional, opposed" (p. He was accorded thedegree of Doctor of Laws by Brown University in 1879. A few American jurisdictions, such as Michigan, employ theIrresistible Impulse test for determining insanity, which mirrors Ray'smoral insanity theory. Under his Project,Hughes said "it was conceivable that a judge could commit a prisoner to anasylum indefinitely without even affording him the opportunity to prove hisinnocence in a regular trial" (p. In 1954 Judge DavidBazelon of the United States District Court in the District of Columbia inDurham v. Pate says it has been largelyabandoned in favor of a combination of the Irresistible Impulse test andthe M'Naghten Rule (p. Pioneers in criminology. 2). S. He wasthe leading figure in the United States in the 19th century in the field offorensic psychiatry. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and PoliceScience 45: 249-263. 188). Its central recommendation was that "insanepersons should not be held responsible for criminal acts when such acts areproven to be direct or indirect results of insanity" (Overholser, p. 258).Hughes said that "Ray doubted whether juries were fit to determinequestions of insanity correctly" (p. 18). . New York:Harcourt, Brace.----------------------- 13 The rule of law and the role ofpsychiatry. 184). His father, who died when he was seven, was a ship captain. He had said in his 1835 article that "the error arises fromconsidering the reason, or to speak more definitely, intellectualfaculties, as exclusively liable to derangement, and entirely overlookingthe passions or affective faculties" (Overholser, p. Zilboorg, G. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Ray, I. (1943). His views on the insanity defense were quoted bycourts in America and Great Britain. (1965). (1953, November). In a 1935 article, Ray said"while the reason may be unimpaired, the passions may be in a state ofinsanity, impelling a man . Isaac Ray corner a history ofjustice: origins of law and psychiatry. . In The Statistics of Insanity (1849), he pointedout that statistics could be used to prove whatever the person using themwanted to prove and often were "worse than useless" (Pate, p. III--Isaac Ray. In Portland, he gave lectures onbotany and natural history. 1-6). One can find a few examples in which the insanity defense wassuccessfully raised in criminal trials in classical times, such as inAeschylus' drama Oresteia (Bordenn, 1999, April, p. Woodman(1865) said insanity was a question of fact for the jury to decide. Hughes said "the single formality required by Ray's model lawwas a certificate of insanity signed by one or more regular physicians anda written application made by a respectable family member or relative" (p.155). Goldstein, M. The psychiatrist Zilboorg (1943) said: "the greatmajority and perhaps all murderers know what they are doing, the nature andquality of the act, and the consequences thereof," and, therefore, arelegally sane under the McNaghten Rule (p. . insanity, like any otherdisease, resulted from organic changes, in this case of the brain" (p. E. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Polier, J. In the early 183 s, he became interested inphrenology, a field of medical research, which held that cranialstructures, such as the size and shape of the skull, influenced humanbehavior. . There he served on the Public Health Committee of the reformoriented Philadelphia Social Science Association where he continued to workfor amelioration of the insanity defense and for improvements in thefunding and management of mental health institutions. They were highly controversial becausehe challenged the legal and scientific status quo and was an uncompromisingadvocate of his points of view. Other Contributions by Ray Ray published other books on different facets of mental health andcrime. A core belief of Ray's was his theory of moral insanity.Ray believed that mental illness could only be understood by studyingscientifically the brains of persons suffering from it. Many psychiatrists as well as jurists and lawyers opposed his theoryof 'moral insanity' which Fink said "by the middle of the 188 s . 65). According toGoldstein (1996), this type of blind faith in the wisdom of psychiatristshas been replaced by a system in which lawyers and the courts are very muchinvolved in ensuring that due process of law is observed during the civilcommitment process (pp. 47). . (1996). (1963). 19). M'Naghten was acquitted on the ground of insanity. United States held that an lawful act was excusable if it "wasthe product of mental disease or defect" (Pate, p. Ray's Challenge to the Anglo-American Legal Establishment The Treatise, which was reissued in many editions, and many of Ray'sother writings and lectures from the 183 s on were devoted to a frontalattack on the Anglo-American legal establishment's approach to the handlingof the insane. C., E. Doe obtained Ray's agreement tohaving the jury not the judge decide whether a defendant was insane (Reik,1953, November, pp. to the commission of horrible crimes, inspite of his efforts to resist" (Hughes, p. Some of his recommendations were over timeadopted, while many others were rejected for various reasons. References Allen, R. (Internet:http://www.mjm.mcgill.ca/issues/v 2n 1/crossv2n1.html, 1-6. 263). . (1968). The Durham Rule hasbeen adopted by very few jurisdictions. By the 19th century, writings ofscientists such as Caesare Lombroso and Enrico Ferri of the Italian Schoolof criminologists had drawn attention to the likely biological causes ofinsanity and of crimes committed by the insane. Despite all this notoriety,Ray never relented in his view that the McNaghten Rule was based on afaulty premise. . (1968).Readings in law and psychiatry. Rayreceived a superb education, at Philips Exeter Academy and at BowdoinCollege and Medical School where he graduated with a medical degree in1827. (1838). He said, "Ray always claimed that his system was immune to abuse andthat no asylum inmates were wrongly restrained" (p. defined forensic psychiatry as"that branch of psychiatry dealing with the legal aspects of mentaldisorders" (p. He hardly should have been surprised to learn that courts wouldnot and perhaps cannot readily abdicate so much authority to the medicalprofession. [is] founded on totally erroneous notions"(Hughes, pp. 39). He alsocalled upon the profession to adhere to the highest professional andethical standards when they were called into court to testify as expertwitnesses. . . Ray's efforts to humanize the treatment accorded to mentally illoffenders in the criminal courts was commendable and undoubtedly ahead ofhis (and perhaps our) time. Hughes (1982) saidRay held that "all disease was physical . However, in the 184 s after he had served as mental hospitaladministrator he maintained that the courts should not be involved in suchdecisions. 5 2). Between 1866 and 1872 Ray and New Hampshire SupremeCourt Justice Charles Doe corresponded. In 1831,he married his wife Abigail, who later survived his death, and they had twochildren. He is best known for his efforts, sustained overseveral decades, to bring about reforms in the way in which criminal courtsdetermined whether a defendant was insane. Causes of crime biological theories inthe United States 18 -1915. 8). . Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice in England in the 167 s, saidthat insanity was no defense to the commission of a crime unless it couldbe showed that the defendant was "totally deprived of his understanding andmemory," and knew what he was doing "no more than an infant . In Mental Hygiene (1863), he presaged Sigmund Freud's later book,Civilization and Its Discontents, by commenting that due to the spread ofthe media and education and the increased excitement and velocity of modernlife, the incidence of mental disease and crime related thereto wouldincrease (Hughes, p. 251). Highlights of Ray's Early Life and Career Ray was born in 18 7 to an established Boston North Shore familywhich had been engaged since colonial times in New England's maritimetrade. Hibbert, C. No other jurisdiction,however, accepted the so-called New Hampshire Doctrine. Polier commented that "Ray's beliefs have rarely been accepted by thecourts" (p. His 'Project' was supported by the commission ofsuperintendents but never became law. 252). In other writings, Ray argued for the value of includingpsychiatrists in the evaluation of mentally disordered offenders. Hughes said that as a scientist, Ray "held a . Pate, K. In doing so, he wouldhave reduced the community's participation in the legal system through thejury by accentuating the role of a medical elite, insanity expert witness"(p. In1841, he was appointed Superintendent of the Maine Insane Asylum inAugusta. Fink, A. . 52). Overholser (1954, September-October) said that phrenology "istoday looked upon as a passing field in the history of thought" but "itmade distinct contributions to the knowledge of the structure of the brain"(p. (1954, October). Small town medical practices in Portland and in Eastport, Maine didnot satisfy Ray's broader interests. 25). 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