Editing Brainwashing (section)

==Legal cases and the "brainwashing defense"==
[[File:Hearst-hibernia-yell.jpg|200 px|alt=|thumb|Bank robbery by [[Patty Hearst]] and [[Symbionese Liberation Army]] members<ref name="Famous Pictures Magazine">{{cite web|date= 14 May 2013|url= http://www.famouspictures.org/patty-hearst/|title= Patty Hearst|publisher= Famous Pictures Magazine|access-date= 21 January 2016|last= Lucas|first=Dean}}</ref>]]
The concept of brainwashing has been raised in defense of criminal charges. The 1969 to 1971 case of [[Charles Manson]], who was said to have brainwashed his followers to commit murder and other crimes, brought the issue to renewed public attention.<ref>''Minds on Trial: Great Cases in Law and Psychology'', by Charles Patrick Ewing, Joseph T. McCann pp. 34–36</ref><ref>''Shifting the Blame: How Victimization Became a Criminal Defense'', Saundra Davis Westervelt, Rutgers University Press, 1998. p. 158</ref>

In 1974, [[Patty Hearst]], a member of the wealthy [[Hearst family]], when 19 years old was [[Kidnapping|kidnapped]] by the [[Symbionese Liberation Army]], a left-wing militant organization. After several weeks of captivity, she agreed to join the group and took part in their activities. In 1975, she was arrested and charged with bank robbery and the use of a gun in committing a felony. Her attorney, [[F. Lee Bailey]], argued in her trial that she should not be held responsible for her actions since her treatment by her captors was the equivalent of the alleged brainwashing of Korean War POWs (see also [[Diminished responsibility]]).<ref name="Regreligion">''Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe'', James T. Richardson, Springer Science & Business Media, 2012, p. 518 {{ISBN?}}</ref> Bailey developed his case in conjunction with psychiatrist [[Louis Jolyon West]] and psychologist [[Margaret Singer]]. They had both studied the experiences of Korean War POWs. (In 1996, Singer published her theories in her best-selling book ''[[Cults in Our Midst]]''.<ref name="refocus.org">[http://www.refocus.org/singerne.html ''Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202034934/http://www.refocus.org/singerne.html|date=2 February 2015}}, Margaret Thaler Singer, Jossey-Bass, publisher, 2003, {{ISBN|0-7879-6741-6}}</ref><ref name="clarke">{{Cite book|last1=Clarke|first1=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DouBAgAAQBAJ|title=Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements|last2=Clarke|first2=Reader in Modern History Fellow Peter|date=2004|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-49970-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Hilts|first=Philip J.|date=9 January 1999|title=Louis J. West, 74, Psychiatrist Who Studied Extremes, Dies|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/09/us/louis-j-west-74-psychiatrist-who-studied-extremes-dies.html|access-date=31 December 2016|archive-date=15 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215032513/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/09/us/louis-j-west-74-psychiatrist-who-studied-extremes-dies.html|url-status=live}}</ref>) Despite this defense, Hearst was found guilty.<ref name="Regreligion" />

In 1990, [[Steven Fishman]], who was a member of the [[Church of Scientology]], was charged with [[mail fraud]] for conducting a scheme to sue large corporations via conspiring with minority stockholders in shareholder class action lawsuits. Fishman's attorneys notified the court that they intended to rely on an [[insanity defense]], using the theories of brainwashing and the expert witnesses of Singer and [[Richard Ofshe]] to claim that the Church of Scientology had practiced brainwashing on him, which left him unsuitable to make independent decisions. The court ruled that the use of brainwashing theories is inadmissible in expert witnesses, citing the [[Frye standard]], which states that scientific theories utilized by expert witnesses must be generally accepted in their respective fields.<ref>{{cite news|title=United States v. Fishman (1990)|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/743/713/2593631/|newspaper=Justia Law|access-date=26 November 2019|archive-date=19 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419065120/https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/743/713/2593631/|url-status=live}}</ref> Since then, United States courts have consistently rejected testimony about mind control or brainwashing on the grounds that these theories are not part of accepted science under the Frye standard.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anthony |first1=Dick |last2=Robbins |first2=Thomas |date=1992 |title=Law, social science and the 'brainwashing' exception to the first amendment |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bsl.2370100103 |journal=Behavioral Sciences & the Law |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=5–29 |doi=10.1002/bsl.2370100103 |access-date=2023-03-13 |archive-date=13 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313224058/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bsl.2370100103 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2003, the brainwashing defense was used unsuccessfully in defense of [[Lee Boyd Malvo]], who was charged with murder for his part in the [[D.C. sniper attacks]].<ref>''Mental Condition Defences and the Criminal Justice System: Perspectives from Law and Medicine'', Ben Livings, Alan Reed, Nicola Wake, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015, p. 98 {{ISBN?}}</ref><ref name="Oldenburg">Oldenburg, Don (21 November 2003). [http://www.crimlaw.org/defbrief269.html "Stressed to Kill: The Defense of Brainwashing; Sniper Suspect's Claim Triggers More Debate"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501144721/http://www.crimlaw.org/defbrief269.html|date=1 May 2011}}, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', reproduced in ''Defence Brief'', issue 269, published by Steven Skurka & Associates</ref> Allegations of brainwashing have also been raised by plaintiffs in child custody cases.<ref>[[Richard Warshak|Warshak, R. A.]] (2010). ''Divorce Poison: How to Protect Your Family from Bad-mouthing and Brainwashing''. New York: Harper Collins.</ref><ref>Richardson, James T. ''Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe'', Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2004, p. 16, {{ISBN|978-0-306-47887-1}}.</ref>

[[Thomas Andrew Green]], in his 2014 book ''Freedom and Criminal Responsibility in American Legal Thought'', argues that the brainwashing defense undermines the law's fundamental premise of [[free will]].<ref>''Freedom and Criminal Responsibility in American Legal Thought'', Thomas Andrew Green, Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 391 {{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>''LaFave's Criminal Law,'' 5th (Hornbook Series), Wayne LaFave, West Academic, 18 March 2010, pp. 208–210 {{ISBN?}}</ref> In 2003, forensic psychologist [[Dick Anthony]] said that "no reasonable person would question that there are situations where people can be influenced against their best interests, but those arguments are evaluated based on fact, not bogus expert testimony."<ref name="Oldenburg" />