The Measure of Madness: Inside the Disturbed and Disturbing Criminal Mind
Dedicated true-crime fans have enjoyed a torrent of police procedurals, forensic how-to’s, and psychological studies of the inner workings of heinous miscreants in recent years. Now forensic psychologist Paradis unleashes something of an amalgam of those approaches in this insightful work, which mixes in lots of bloody details with the author’s professional assessments. The three parts of the book (Mental State at Time of Offense Evaluations, Competency Evaluations, and Evaluations of Juveniles and Assessments of Dangerousness and Malingering) open with brief summaries of germane legal questions and distillations of psychological issues involved. Chapters within the sections detail specific cases and Paradis’ interactions with the individual criminals. Bits of scientific methodology share page space with visceral detail, as in the case of wife-killer Mr. Paulson, who, in the course of an evaluation exercise, drew a nude woman in high-heeled boots, contributing to Paradis’ conclusion that the subject showed poor judgment and self-awareness despite his superior intellectual skills. Between the author’s personal tales of interaction with fiends and her descriptions of subsequent court testimony, this is an excellent and entertaining bit of grim if occasionally clinical reading. --Mike Tribby