Books in Brief: Moral Judgment

Moral Judgment, by James Q. Wilson (Basic, 134 pp., $18)

THE erosion of personal responsibility brought about by the welfare state has been complemented by developments in the legal system. Exploring the insanity and intoxication defenses, “diminished responsibility,” and assorted manifestations of psychiatric “syndrome science,” Professor James Q. Wilson shows how the American criminal-justice system has increasingly failed in its mission of punishing people who hurt others. While replete with anecdotes (forget the Twinkie defense: one expert witness suggested that snail research proved the brains of the Menendez brothers had been “rewired” to cause them to fire 15 shots into their mother and father in order to collect their life insurance), this book offers a serious exploration of subtle evolutions which have transformed the criminal law from a body of rules designed to deter those who are the most in need of deterrence into one aggressively seeking out creative reasons to excuse the antisocial conduct of such persons.

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Stephen Markman

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Moral Judgment, by James Q. Wilson (Basic, 134 pp., $18)

THE erosion of personal responsibility brought about by the welfare state has been complemented by developments in the legal system. Exploring the insanity and intoxication defenses, “diminished responsibility,” and assorted manifestations of psychiatric “syndrome science,” Professor James Q. Wilson shows how the American criminal-justice system has increasingly failed in its mission of punishing people who hurt others. While replete with anecdotes (forget the Twinkie defense: one expert witness suggested that snail research proved the brains of the Menendez brothers had been “rewired” to cause them to fire 15 shots into their mother and father in order to collect their life insurance), this book offers a serious exploration of subtle evolutions which have transformed the criminal law from a body of rules designed to deter those who are the most in need of deterrence into one aggressively seeking out creative reasons to excuse the antisocial conduct of such persons.