An examination of mental condition defenses

Reviews R. D. Mackay, Mental condition defences in the criminal law. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1995. Mental condition defenses are defenses that offer some form of abnormal mental condition as a source of exculpation. Mackay divides these conditions into 5 chapters: automatism, insanity, diminished responsibility and selfinduced incapacity, and unfitness to plead. The common denominator linking each chapter is mental condition and the possibility of exculpation. The book draws together material previously examined in article form. It is a useful heuristic to academics and practitioners.