The Abuse Excuse: And Other Cop-outs, Sob Stories, and Evasions of Responsibility - Softcover

Dershowitz, Alan M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316181021 ISBN 13: 9780316181020

Publisher: Back Bay Books, 1995

Synopsis

According to renowned defense attorney and Harvard law professor Alan M. Dershowitz, "abuse excuses" are enabling people to get away with murder - literally. From the Menendez brothers to Lorena Bobbitt, more and more Americans accused of violent crimes are admitting to the charges, but arguing that they shouldn't be held legally responsible. The reason: they're victims - of an abusive parent, a violent spouse, a traumatic experience, ethnic hatred, society at large, or anything else - who struck back at a real or perceived oppressor. And they couldn't help themselves, they say. In this provocative and important collection of essays, Dershowitz reviews a wide range of recent cases - including those of O. J. Simpson, Tonya Harding, and Woody Allen - and argues that the current vogue in victim defenses is antithetical to the ideals of our constitutional democracy. For Dershowitz, the foundations of American society are individual responsibility and the rule of law. And people who claim to be above the law - whatever the excuse - are no more than vigilantes.

About this title

About the Author:

Alan M. Dershowitz is a professor at Harvard Law School and a noted appellate lawyer and columnist. He has represented such clients as Claus von Bülow, O. J. Simpson, Anatoly Shcharansky, Michael Milken, Mia Farrow, and Mike Tyson. He lectures widely on legal and religious issues, appears frequently on television and radio, and is the author of the number one bestseller Chutzpah, as well as Supreme Injustice, Reversal of Fortune, The Abuse Excuse, Just Revenge, The Genesis of Justice, The Advocate's Devil, and Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O. J. Simpson Case.

From Booklist:

Dershowitz, the ubiquitous Harvard attorney, comes out swinging against what he terms the abuse excuse, a legal tactic by which defendants claim a history of abuse as an excuse for violent retaliation. The strategy has been used with varying degrees of success by Lorena Bobbitt, Tonya Harding, and the Menendez brothers. In his introduction, Dershowitz lays out his thesis that the abuse excuse not only affects the legal system, but also is a symptom of society's willingness to abdicate responsibility. The abdicators, he contends, aren't just individuals but also include ethnic groups and even nations. Dershowitz makes a powerful case, listing over 40 "syndromes" that have been used as excuses for crime, including adopted child syndrome, black rage syndrome (used by the killer on the Long Island Railroad), Holocaust survivor syndrome, Super Bowl Sunday syndrome, and UFO survivor syndrome. Dershowitz argues that the more we accept such defenses (and one reason juries do is because they are often politically correct), the more we open the doors to vigilante justice and anarchy. He goes on to discuss in brief essays various well-publicized recent cases, though in some, such as the Woody Allen-Mia Farrow case, he has to stretch to make his point. These short pieces are more like appetizers than main courses, and some seemed designed to fill space rather than illuminate. Still, this is sure to be a talked-about and requested book, especially if O. J. Simpson decides to claim some sort of diminished capability in a plea bargain. What would Dershowitz, a member of Simpson's defense team, say then? Ilene Cooper

About this edition

• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0316181021
• ISBN 13: 9780316181020
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352