ABSTRACT

In his only novel, Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon, the playwright Tom Stoppard described the House of Lords as having “…responsibility without power, the prerogative of the eunuch throughout the ages.” (Here, he was parodying Baldwin’s famous attack on the press, whom he described as seeking “…power without responsibility-the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages!”) Is it fair then to expect forensic psychiatrists to manage personality disordered offenders (PDOs) in the community if their status is best described as having responsibility without power?