Psychiatry And In Cold Blood Essay English Literature Essay

psychopathology And In rimy Blood search English Literature EssayOn November 15, 1959, in the abject t give birth of Holcomb, Kansas, intravenous feeding members of the Clutter family, Herbert Clutter, sightly Clutter, Nancy Clutter, and Kenyon Clutter, were savagely murdered by two violent marauders with initially no apparent motive for the horrendous crime. Within the novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote reconstructs the events transcending up to the murder and the investigation that in the end guide to the capture, trial, and motion of the k liveryers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, on April 14, 1965. During the trial, two of the defendants were considered to be noeticly stroke, but were adequate to have a bun in the oven trial and execution as they had been recognized with the capacity to come apart between right and wrong, and were therefore considered kindly sane. Even though twain defendants were mentally ill, the jury reached the rational verdict of execution since the mentally ill should not be pardon from much(prenominal) a punishment, therefore justifying it needful for the defendants.Since 1976, the United relegates has been attempting to assess the criminal responsibility of receivers by dividing them into two categories, the mentally sane and the insane, and prosecuting them due process of law. In the article printed in, The American leadger of Psychiatry (July, 1960), written in collaboration by Karl Menninger, Irwin Rosen, and Martin Mayman, it explains, The sane murderer is thought of as acting upon rational motives that can be understood, though condemned, and the insane one as creation driven by ill-judged senseless motives. During the trial of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, the prosecution used the MNaghten test to determine the sanity of the defendants, as the test asks whether the defendant was un fitted to understand what he or she was doing at the time of the crime due to some defect of yard or disease of the mind or, if he or she was aware of what she was doing, that he or she failed to understand that what he or she was doing was wrong. The criminal psychiatrist, Dr. Jones, who evaluated the mental intend of the defendants, testified that Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were sane, even though he soulally concluded two to be suffering from mental illnesses. In Ford versus Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399 (1986) and Panetti versus Quarterman, 127 S. Ct. 2842 (2007), the Supreme chat up held and reaffirmed that it was unconstitutional to execute someone who was incompetent at the time of his execution under the eighth amendment. However, those who are mentally ill, but not insane, spend a penny no such exemption. Therefore, both Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were lawfully entitled to the terminal penalty as the jury reached the rational verdict.On June 6, 1931, Richard Eugene Hickock, was born in Kansas City, Kansas to his parents, Walter Hickock and Eunice Hickock. Richard was raised in Kansas City, as he attended Olathe High School, act as a first team athlete and known to be a popular student with aspirations to attend college, but was slimed from his parents lack of wealth, which eventually led him to become a mechanic. After Richards unsuccessful marriage, fathering three children, and his extramarital affairs, he soon began participating in petty misdemeanor crimes, such as the creation and use of fraudulent checks which led to his conviction and re turf out in Lansing correctional detention, where he devised the Clutter incident and met his henchman in crime Perry Smith. On November 15, 1959, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith implemented their plans by robbing and murdering four members of the Clutter family at their home. During the prosecution of the defendants, the defense requested a psychiatric evaluation for Richard Hickock, who evaluated by the criminal physiatrist Dr. Jones, described the mental condition of Hickock, as he wrote,Richard Hickock is above average in intelligence, grasps new ideas considerably and has a wide fund of in relieve oneselfation. He is alert to what is happening around him, and he shows no sign of mental confusion or disorientation. His thought is salutary organized and logical and he seems to be in good suffer with reality. Although I did not find the usual signs of organic wizard alter memory loss, concrete concept formation, intellectual deterioration this cannot be only ruled out. He had a serious head injury with buffet and several hours of unconsciousness in 1950 this was affirm by me by checking infirmary records. He says he has had blackout spells, periods of amnesia, and headaches ever since that time, and a major mountain of his antisocial behavior has occurred since that time. He has never had the medical exam tests which would definitely prove or disprove the existence of residual brain damage. Definitive medical tests are indicated before a complete evaluation can be said to exist. Hickock does show signs of emotional abnormality. That he knew what he was doing and still went forwards with it is possibly the most clear-cut demonstration of this fact. He is a person who is impulsive in action, likely to do things without thought of consequences or hereafter discomfort to himself or to others. He does not seem to be capable of learning from experience, and he shows an unusual pattern of intermittent periods of productive occupation followed by patently irresponsible actions. He cannot lose feelings of frustration as a more normal person can, and he is uglyly able to rid himself of those feelings except through antisocial activity. His self-esteem is very low, and he secretly feels teensy-weensy to others and sexually wanting(predicate). These feelings seem to be overcompensated for by dreams of being rich and powerful, a tendency to brag about his exploits, spending sprees when he has money, and dissatisfaction with only the normal slow advance ment he could expect from his job. He is uncomfortable in his relationships to other peck, and has a pathological inability to form and hold enduring personal attachments. Although he professes usual moral standards he seems obviously uninfluenced by them in his actions. In summary, he shows evenhandedly typical characteristics of what would psychiatrically be called a severe character disquiet. It is important that move be taken to rule out the possibility of organic brain damage, since, if present, it might have substantially influenced his behavior during the past several age and at the time of the crime (Capote, 294-295).The evaluation revealed several irregularities in Richard Hickocks mental state, as the doctor clarified was influenced by severe character disorder which would be fastly related to severe depression, psychopathic and sociopathic tendency, and inadequate repression. Richards suffering from severe depression, which included various aches and pains, negativ e and pessimistic thoughts, and insomnia, was a direct head of his changeless feeling of disappointment to his parents, the experience of prison, complications during his marriage, and constant economic pressure. Richard demonstrated psychopathic and sociopathic characteristics which included superficial c upon, manipulations, antisocial behaviors such as lacking guilt, living a parasitic lifestyle, irresponsibility, impulsiveness, and pathological lying, as described, His poise, his explicitness, the assured presentation of verifiable detail impressed Nye though, of course, the son was lying. Overall, the effects of mental illness on Richard Hickock during the Clutter murders undoubtedly minded(p) him the character and ability needed to effortlessly execute the crime without tutelage and unfortunately leaving him without guilt. If the jury had not sentenced Richard Hickock to death, he would have go on to be a threat to society with the possibility of release to impose on _o r_ oppress others.On October 27, 1928, Perry Edward Smith was born in Huntington, Nevada to his parents Florence Julia Buckskin and John Smith. During his early life, Perry was initially raised by his alcoholic mother, but was placed in a Catholic orphanage where he was allegedly abused physically and emotionally by nuns. Soon, he was placed in a Salvation host orphanage, where again he was allegedly abused by a caretaker, and was thus reunited with his father to live. As a child, Perry participated in a gang and became have-to doe with in petty crime, which resulted in detention in juvenile homes. Eventually, Perry enlisted as a United States Merchant Marine, and served in the Korean War in the army where he assaulted Korean civilians and soldiers. Perry Smith and Richard Hickock first met in the Kansas State Prison, at Lansing, Kansas, later resuming their acquaintance after Hickocks release, and carrying out the plan to clean the Clutters, which resulted in the familys death. During the prosecution of the defendants, the defense also requested a psychiatric evaluation for Perry Smith, who evaluated by the criminal physiatrist Dr. Jones, described the mental condition of Smith, as he wrote,Perry Smith shows definite signs of severe mental illness. His childhood, related to me and verified by portions of the prison records, was marked by brutality and lack of anguish on the part of both parents. He seems to have grown up without direction, without love, and without ever having absorbed any fixed sense of moral values. He is oriented, hyper alert to things going on about him, and shows no sign of confusion. He is above average in intelligence, and has a good range of culture considering his despicable educational background. Two features in his personality make-up stand out as particularly pathological. The first is his paranoid orientation toward the world. He is suspicious and distrustful of others, tends to feel that others discriminate against him, and feels that others are unfair to him and do not understand him. He is overly sensitive to criticisms that others make of him, and cannot tolerate being made fun of. He is quick to sense slight or insult in things others say, and frequently may misinterpret intended communications. He feels he has great need of friendship and understanding, but he is reluctant to confide in others, and when he does, expects to be misunderstood or even betrayed. In evaluating the intentions and feelings of others, his ability to separate the real situation from his own mental projections is very poor. He not infrequently groups all people together as being hypocritical, hostile, and deserving of whatever he is able to do to them. Akin to this first trait is the second, an ever-present, poorly controlled rage easily triggered by any feeling of being tricked, slighted, or labeled inferior by others. For the most part, his rages in the, past have been directed at authority figures father, brother, Army sergeant, state parole officer and have led to violent assaultive behavior on several occasions. Both he and his acquaintances have been aware of these rages, which he says mount up in him, and of the poor control he has over them. When turned toward himself his anger has precipitated ideas of suicide. The inappropriate top executive of his anger and lack of ability to control or channel it debate a primary weakness of personality structure. In addition to these traits, the capable shows mild early signs of a disorder of his thought processes. He has poor ability to organize his thinking, he seems unable to scan or take up his thought, becoming involved and sometimes lost in detail, and some of his thinking reflects a magical quality, a disregard of reality. He has had few close emotional relationships with other people, and these have not been able to stand small crises. He has little feeling for others outside a very small circle of friends, and attaches little real valu e to human life. This emotional insularity and blandness in certain areas is other evidence of his mental abnormality. to a greater extent extensive evaluation would be demand to make an exact psychiatric diagnosis, but his present personality structure is very nearly that of a paranoid schizophrenic reaction (Capote, 296-298).The evaluation revealed several irregularities in Perry Smiths mental state, as the doctor explained was influenced by paranoid schizophrenia which would be tight related to bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress. Perry demonstrated indications of bipolar disorder as he experienced disruptive mood swings, manic states of depression as he sought grandeur, and the creation of delusional and unrealistic plans which may lead to rage if not completed. Perry seemed to suffer from post-traumatic stress which can trigger hopeful emotions, in Perrys case pertaining to helpless, abuse and near death trauma, may result in irrational physical re sponse due to an inability to cope. Although Perry Smiths confederacy in the Clutter incident was directly influenced by his mental illness, he still was able to slaughter four innocent people, which made him a danger to society and eligible for execution.Even though both defendants were both mentally ill, the jury reached the rational verdict of execution, as the mentally ill are not exempt from such a punishment, and was therefore necessary for both defendants. If the jurors had not decided to vote for the death penalty, and instead compel a prison sentence, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, the killers of four members of the Clutter family, Herbert Clutter, Bonnie Clutter, Nancy Clutter, and Kenyon Clutter, would have proceed to be a threat to society with the possibility of release to harm others.Work CitedCapote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York Random House, 1965. Print.Mental unwellness and the Death Penalty. Death Penalty training Center. Death Penalty InformationCenter, 1 8 2012. Web. 27 Nov 2012.