The Hidden Prejudice by Michael Perlin

The Hidden Prejudice by Michael Perlin

In ""The Hidden Prejudice"", Michael L. Perlin reveals a pattern of prejudice against mentally disabled individuals that keeps them from receiving equal treatment under the law. ""Sanism"", like racism, is a prejudice against a minority population. This mostly hidden prejudice against mentally ill people has pervaded Western culture throughout history and continues to affect our culture and legal system. Under the pretext of ""improving"" society, a judge, lawyer or fact-finder may rationalize turning a blind eye to faulty evidence and render a sanist decision. The pretext for this testimonial dishonesty is that the end result justifies the means. In cases involving the mentally disabled, these results are founded on the prejudicial belief that the mentally disabled are not responsible for or intelligent enough to deserve full rights of citizenship. Perlin argues that these sanist decisions, rationalized on ""pretextuality"", are much more common than most of us are likely to realize. This book first details the roots of sanism and pretextuality and how these two phenomena have distorted and corrupted mental disability law. The author then describes how therapeutic jurisprudence, or the healthful and helpful use of the law, can work toward ridding the system of the hidden prejudice of sanism and pretextuality. This book seeks to expand the thinking of forensic psychologists, legal professionals and mental health practitioners who work with the law or serve as expert witnesses in court.

Michael L. Perlin is professor of Law at New York Law School (NYLS), director of NYLS's Online Mental Disability Law Program, and director of NYLS's International Mental Disability Law Reform Project in its Justice Action Center. He serves on the Board of Advisors of Disability Rights International, and has done advocacy work on behalf of persons with disabilities on every continent. He has written 21 books and over 250 articles on all aspects of mental disability law, most dealing with the intersection of mental disability law and criminal procedure. His book, The Jurisprudence of the Insanity Defense, won the Manfred Guttmacher Award given by the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law as the best book in the field of law and forensic psychiatry in 1995. He has done extensive work in China with the American Bar Association's Rule of Law--Asia office where, in conjunction with the All China Lawyers' Association, and the Northwest University of Politics and Law, he has conducted Training the Trainers workshops in Xi'an, China, to teach experienced death penalty defense lawyers how to train inexperienced lawyers, employing the online distance learning methodologies used in the online program.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781557986160
ISBN 10	1557986169
Title	The Hidden Prejudice
Author	Michael Perlin
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	American Psychological Association (Apa)
Year published	2000-03-31
Number of pages	400
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable