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Whores of the Court: The Fraud of Psychiatric
Testimony and the Rape of American Justice
by Margaret A. Hagen

Whores of the Court: The Fraud of Psychiatric Testimony

From Booklist, March 1, 1997
A take-no-prisoners condemnation of psychiatric experts being waved into the witness box, this account trashes psychiatry in general as a quack profession. Hagen (a psychology professor) assails most of the diagnostic tools of the field in her text, which roams among court cases whose outcome hinged on the testimony of mental-health experts. Her fundamental contention is that psychiatry is a junk science whose theories when extended to matters of legal culpability go against common sense. Indeed, Hagen assumes the posture of that legendary legalism, the "reasonable person," and her prose is peppered with exclamations and rhetorical questions like "Who could believe that?" which might annoy as many readers as it might convince about whatever points are in question. Among them are such topically current items as battered-wife syndrome, recovered memory claims, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and urban psychosis claims. The average person could easily encounter in divorce and child custody litigation the situations Hagen vigorously complains of, so her energetic attack could gain considerable attention. - Gilbert Taylor, Copyright© 1997, American Library Association. All rights reserved 

From Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 1997
As its title indicates, this is an unqualified jeremiad against what the author feels is the "psychologization" of the American legal system. Hagen, a psychology professor at Boston University, makes a great many valid points. She argues persuasively that clinical psychologists often proclaim the most authoritative conclusions based on the flimsiest of anecdotal evidence, and that diagnoses have proliferated beyond all sense (including such hopelessly vague, utterly unverifiable ones as "urban psychosis" and "intermittent explosive disorder"), and that claims of "psychological injury" are vastly overused and have greatly inflated damage awards in tort cases.

Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., author of The Myth of Repressed Memory and Eyewitness Testimony
"This sizzling exposé by a courageous psychological scientist shines a brilliant light on the incalculable harm done to millions of Americans by the purveyors of psychological pseudoscience who have invaded our courtrooms."

Book Description
A scathing exposé of the fraud inherent in the use of "expert" psychological testimony in the courtroom.

From the high-profile murder trials of the Menendez brothers and Jeffrey Dahmer to personal injury, product liability and child custody cases, lawyers across the country have increasingly turned to "expert" testimony from psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers to influence the decisions of judges and juries.

Psychologist Margaret Hagen, a professor and medical industry insider, details the very real danger of this booming business. In every state, a child can be taken away from a parent on the strength of five minutes of "neutral" testimony from a social worker. A criminal suspect's freedom or incarceration can depend on a superficial psychological examination performed by an incompetent, overworked, or, at worst, paid-off psychologist. Parole hearings hinge on the testimony of similarly incomplete or fraudulent evaluations, allowing "rehabilitated" violent criminals back onto the street to commit more heinous crimes, with no accountability for the reviewing "expert." Unmasking some legal psycho-expertise as a total fraud, Dr. Hagen instructs readers to protect themselves and their families from being victimized by psychological testimony in the courtroom. In today's frenzied legal climate, her insight and wisdom make for provocative, compelling and invaluable reading.

A reader, July 14, 1997
A must-read for anyone considering psychiatric treatment

This book was a compelling exposé of exactly how psychology and psychiatry have undermined our justice system, blurring the definitions of good and bad, right and wrong until only the insane (and their lawyers) have rights and honest people are left to deal over and over with their insanity.

In several places the author points to the origins of modern political liberalism in psychology and psychiatry; it is presented in a way that you can't help but understand and agree that the undermining of our society by psychology and psychiatry (for example in our schools) has been planned and orchestrated by a heavily vested interest... which has no interest in the true welfare of our society, only its own pockets.

The author correctly argues for guilt or innocence to be determined based solely on the facts; then to consider "insanity" only in regard to what kind of incarceration be imposed. She also correctly argues for the person to serve out their full term even if pronounced "sane" as (as her statistics clearly show) people pronounced "sane" have a frighteningly high probability of committing the same crime (i.e. murder) in less than a year after release. The author correctly points out that prison psychiatrists are wrong more than they are right in diagnosing criminals, and that a more effective, cheaper, and safer way of determining who should be released as "sane" would be done by simply flipping a coin.

In an insightful piece of prose, the author exposés the idiocy of "not guilty by insanity". The basis of this, she points out, is that the person did not know right from wrong (because of lowered "capacity") and therefore should be considered not guilty. The idiocy behind this is that your everyday, run of the mill criminal is considered to have known right from wrong AND YET COMMITTED THE CRIME ANYWAY. Which is a greater insanity? Which is more danger to the honest citizen? Right. Yet, the "run of the mill" criminal is not considered "insane". Frightening.

So, before you put yourself or a loved one into the hands of a psychologist or psychiatrist, be sure you read this book!

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