Foreword

• Author: Richard D. Schneider
• Pages: 7-10

 vii

Fewd

   shocking crime committed by a strange loner. An ac-

quittal because of the accused’s mental disorder. Public outcry at the

verdict. Suspicion about the role of medical experts who testied for

the accused. Demands on judges and legislators to restrict the insanity

defence so that more people do not “get away with murder.”

Such a story could be from more recent headlines including those

arising from the  verdict for Kenneth Li who was found not

criminally responsible for killing and beheading Tim McLean on a

Greyhound bus in Manitoba because of mental disorder and John

Hinckley’s  acquittal on grounds of insanity for his attempted as-

sassination of President Reagan.

is compelling book, however, does not speak directly to those

modern cases. Justice Richard Schneider, a former clinical psychologist

who now presides at Toronto’s widely acclaimed mental health court

as a judge, has chosen a less direct but more fruitful and enriching

path. In this book, Justice Schneider accounts the  case of Daniel

M’Naughten in full and colourful detail. In doing so, Justice Schneider

draws on his wealth of experience with the law and mental disorder.

As most students of the law and psychiatry know, M’Naughten

was acquitted on grounds of insanity for the shooting of Edward

Drummond, the private secretary of the Conservative Prime Minister

Robert Peel. Fewer know the controversy caused by the acquittal. e

public reaction to the verdict was captured by a statement attributed

to Queen Victoria: “How could he have been found not guilty? He did

it, didn’t he?” As will be seen, Queen Victoria had already had some

unhappy encounters with the insanity defence that may have left her

somewhat jaded.