Can't Let Go: Obsession and the Criminal Law.

Our paper will examine the criminal law's historical rejection of"obsession" as an emotional state capable of mitigating an actor'sculpability. We will contrast the law's treatment of obsession with itsdoctrinal acceptance of other emotional states, such as "heat ofpassion," as relevant to culpability. This paper further will examinewhether the Model Penal Code's extreme emotional disturbance defenseallows greater opportunity for obsession to be considered as a basis forreducing criminal liability, and we will use several high-profile"obsession" cases to explore this question across differentjurisdictions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]