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Sexual Aggression: Mad, Bad, and Mad
Author(s) -
SCHOPP ROBERT F.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2003.tb07315.x
Subject(s) - harm , criminology , aggression , criminal justice , psychology , set (abstract data type) , mental health , categorization , economic justice , social psychology , social control , political science , law , psychiatry , philosophy , epistemology , computer science , programming language
A bstract : Legal institutions in the Western liberal tradition ordinarily rely primarily on the criminal justice system to address conduct by some individuals that deliberately harms other individuals. The mental health system provides an alternative institutional structure through which societies can address such harmful behavior. Those who deliberately engage in conduct that causes harm to others are traditionally addressed through either the criminal justice or mental health systems on the basis of their being categorized as either ‘bad or mad.’ This paper examines some of the relevant reasons for categorizing sexual aggression as bad or mad. It emphasizes the significance of such categorization for the broader set of legal institutions of coercive social control and for the manner in which we respond to persons within those institutions.