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Dr. Menninger's thesis is that most systems of criminal punishment do not achieve any of the purposes by which they are justified, and that our systems of punishment are dehumanizing, extravagantly expensive, and quite ineffective. His thesis is documented thoroughly but in too shrill a voice. The systems are examined step by step, from arrest to the final release from prison. He details the inequities and defects of preliminary hearings, bail customs, the trial and the adversary system, and finally the sentencing and prison systems.
After clearly making his point that the psychiatrist does not belong in the courtroom at all during the trial, Dr. Menninger trains most of his guns on the sentencing procedure and on our antiquated prison system. His main theme throughout the book is that our present legal procedures encourage a system of punishment made to fit the crime rather than the criminal.
Because of the law's preoccupation with the concept of 'responsibility', much of the psychiatrist's courtroom work is taken up with evaluations of the legal term, 'insanity'. Dr. Menninger emphasizes the reality that if someone commits an act he is by definition responsible for it. The trial should therefore determine