The psychiatrist-witness and legal guilt

Psychiatrist-witnesses testifying in criminal cases are usually asked if the defendant's mental state at the time of the offense met the legal standards for mitigation or exculpation. These standards use a commonsense frame of reference resting on assumptions of free will and self-control, which may differ from the framework clinical psychiatrists usually employ in their work. An understanding of the process of "transduction" between different systems may help resolve problems created by these different frames of reference.