Park Dietz
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Park Dietz (born 1948) is a controversial forensic psychiatrist and criminologist who was educated at Cornell and Johns Hopkins (M.D., 1975; M.P.H., 1975; Ph.D. (Sociology), 1984. Dietz later served as a resident and fellow in forensic psychiatry at University of Pennsylvania, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and a professor of behavioral medicine and psychiatry, and law at the University of Virginia. He has published widely in the fields of criminology and forensic psychiatry. He currently serves as a clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Dr. Dietz is best known for his forensic consulting on behalf of state and federal prosecutors as well as his work on the television series Law and Order. His most notable cases being those of Jeffrey Dahmer, John Hinckley, Andrea Yates, Deanna Laney, Susan Smith, Cary Stayner, Polly Klaas, the Menendez Brothers (retrial), John duPont, The Unabomber, the New York Zodiac, and the Prom Mom Case.
When Anita Hill was scheduled to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee against the confirmation of Clarence Thomas as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in October 1991 concerning her allegations of sexual harassment, Park Dietz was asked by Senator John Danforth to help the Republican committee members as they prepared their response. Dietz spent a weekend in Danforth's office providing detailed information about erotomania. His description of the disorder became the basis for aggressive questioning of Hill and others, which appeared to focus on eliciting evidence that she had the disorder. Some questioned the ethics of Dietz' involvement, but Dietz defended his role as strictly the provision of information.[1]
In 1993, Dietz was invited to assist the FBI in the standoff with the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas. Dietz profiled David Koresh, the group's leader, as antisocial and narcissistic. He told the FBI, "I do not believe negotiating in good faith will resolve the situation," and predicted that Koresh would "continue to make sexual use of any children who remain inside." Although he also gave advice on psychological approaches which might encourage Koresh to believe that negotiators were acting in good faith, his prediction that Koresh was incapable of compromise was a crucial element in the decision of the FBI to storm the compound.[2] 75 died, 50 adults and 25 children under the age of 15. Dietz returned home to watch the tragedy unfold on TV.[2].
Dr. Dietz's reputation was tarnished after it was revealed that he gave misleading testimony in the Andrea Yates trial. The First Texas Court of Appeals reversed Yates's conviction based on Dietz role writing: "We conclude that there is a reasonable likelihood that Dr. Dietz's false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury...." [3]Yates was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity in her court-ordered retrial.[4]
- ^ "Psychiatry's Use in Thomas Battle Raises Ethics Issue," The New York Times, Oct. 20, 1991.
- ^ Tabor, James; Gallagher, Eugene. Why Waco?
- ^ Andrea Pia Yates v. Texas, Ct. App. 1st Dist. (2005)
- ^ Jury:Yates not guilty by reason of insanity
