Alone with the Devil

This book documents in a very accessible manner the struggle to mesh the legal system and psychology. Markman who holds degrees in both areas documents, through cases he has been involved with professionally-- some well known, some almost forgotten-- the tension that exists between justice and psychology. The fact that someone may be mentally ill, but criminally culpable and that the system must decided both issues, is something that gets lost in the political frenzy that sometimes occurs when someone is accused of a highly charged crime. Markman notes that for political reasons certain criminals such as Charlie Manson and Sirhan Sirhan will never be released, although those who have done much worse have done much less time. (Not that he is advocating for their release, he just wants to point out what we should all be aware of-- justice is not necessarily just.) The fact that the Vampire of Sacramento was found sane was probably one of the great feats of judicial blindness of the 20th century. However no one would possibly want him out walking the streets. Markman also discusses one of the sources of the great influx of homeless individuals onto the city streets in the latter part of the 20th century-- the "least restraint" laws that emptied into the streets individuals who were not capable of making their own way in the world due to mental illness. While probably a bit simplistic and certainly a bit self serving, I recommend this book to anyone interested in beginning to learn about forensic psychiatry.

This was by far one of the spookiest true crime forensic psychiatric books I have ever read. Markman discusses famous cases such as the Hillside Strangler, The Manson murderers and other cases in addition, to what the term of guilty but insane means in the California criminal justice system. Nevertheless, the creepiest of all was the case of Richard Chase. Richard earning the name "The Vampire Of Sacramento" because he believed and drank human blood to survive, displayed signs of being very mentally ill at a very early age but his parents did not much about it. Whether his family was in denial of his illness or there was just no hope for Richard, the crimes he committed were so atrocious in nature that I it seemed impossible that the court system would even give him the benefit of an insanity plea. The book is well worth reading it is full of interesting facts and the way our society views killers and mental illness. In Richard's case, if he had gotten the insanity plea he would have been put away for a few years in a criminal mental institution then let go to a halfway house. Once there he could have easily got off his medications and committed another murder.

Overall, this is an excellent book. I have read it several times, and will continue to read it every couple of years.. 5 stars!

Yes , he goes into the details of actual crimes to great extent. He also explains how the Calif. justice system worked at the time of the crime and how it has evolved in dealing with these type of crimes/people. Which was an eye opener for me. His view, and I agree, being that the system is failing to protect us by overly protecting the defendants instead, by playing politics and loosing sight of the gross/obvious facts in arguing the minute details of the law. I for one thought the parents of Richard Chase the "Vampire of Sacramento" should of been charged as aiding/abetting and equally punished. They knew what their son was doing from a very early age and never got him help, never informed anyone. Instead they took him out of hospitals the state put him in and weaned him off his medication. I see them as more guilty than their son.

This book could be classed as either depending on the reader. This book does not concentrate on just the one aspect of the crime but rather gives a rounded outlook. I found it to be unbiased and complete. It also explains the circumstances behind the crime and the affects of it in the aftermath. It gives an indepth view into the pyche of the killers and it is not full of psychoanalytical words and is easy to read. I'd reccommend it to all.