The Heritage Foundation is in my view on the wrong side of sentencing "reform," but remains a valuable, intellectually stimulating and honest organization. (For example, its Senior Fellow, John Malcolm, acknowledges that increased incarceration accounts for from 25 to 35 percent of the huge decline in crime over the last generation).
Those who are interested and able might wish to attend its Tuesday, April 14 lecture titled, "How Modern Psychology Undermines Morality" by psychiatrist and author Theodore Dalrymple. Its description is:
Modern psychology is one of the most powerful intellectual authorities of our time. Its appeal derives in no small part from its ability to absolve us of responsibility for our misdeeds, vices, and failings. It's never our fault. It's the fault of our subconscious drives, our parents, or our genes. And the solution to our behavioral problems lies not in reforming our character, but in medicines and therapy that can cure the diseases and disorders diagnosed by psychology.
In Admirable Evasions: How Psychology Undermines Morality, the well-known writer, social critic, and psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple shows how the findings of psychology are superficial and its net effects deleterious. Dalrymple examines the damage psychology has done to our politics by relieving individuals of moral responsibility and diminishing their ability for honest self-reflection. Theodore Dalrymple is the pen name of Anthony Daniels.
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