Group items tagged

Originally used in 1843 for an assassination case, the insanity plea has been used by many cold killers to save their lives in return for being labled as a sociopath. Both Dick and Perry undergo psychological evaluations to determine if they, too, qualify for this sentence.  Interestingly enough, this defense now seems to be a thing of the past, as some courts require their jury to answer whether or not a criminal understood his actions.

"Defense mechanisms include denial, repression, suppression, projection, displacement, reaction formation, regression, fixation, identification, introjection, rationalization, isolation, sublimation, compensation, and humor"

This article discusses the several ways a person can cope with traumatic or undesired feelings or events. Victor and the creature, throughout Frankenstein, use multiple defense mechanisms in order to cope with either the horridness of creation or isolation. Frankenstein several times attempts to forget about the monster by retreating into nature or ignoring the situation completely. The monster tries to attract Victor's through regressive negative stimuli. This article connects with how the monster tries to cope with isolation and Victor uses isolation as a defense mechanism.

Each member of the Bundren family in Willam Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying is unique and memorable, but the most complex of these characters is the second son.

Darl is sent away by his remaining family to an insane asylum at the end of the book. However, his thoughts and actions during the trip were sane, especially when viewed against those of his family. His omniscient point of view may be eerie to Dewey Dell and Jewel, but in the end Darl understands the true nature of his family.

"More than 750,000 children each year in America are abused or neglected, one every 42 seconds."

This article, published by the Children's Defense Fund, describes child abuse and neglect in America and the effects it has. The child welfare system does everything it can in helping neglected children, but it is common for them to turn to crime and end up in prison as adults.

This article provides a comparison of Malcolm X to other civil rights orators like Dr. King. Malcolm is relatively unique in the sense that he promotes violence for the use of the African American cause. He justifies violence as self-defense.