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The Pros And Cons Of The Insanity Defence

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I. Opening remarks To begin to understand the question in hand, the reader must first comprehend a brief history behind the ‘Insanity Defence’, what is actually meant by the term and most importantly; under what grounds it should remain, despite criticism and its desired abolishment. This paper will look at situations in which the Insanity Defence proved necessary and the benefits and drawbacks of the defence in instances relating to legal matters in the criminal field. Thus; in this sense, the term Insanity Defence can be defined as; “not punishable is he who commits an act which cannot be attributed to him because of poorly developed or pathologically disturbed mental capacities.” In such circumstances, the insane defendant shall be compulsorily admitted to treatment in a mental hospital, thus as such, raising the fact that through pleading insane, the defendant “risks to be deprived of his freedom for an …show more content…

II. The history of the Insanity Defence The birth of the Insanity Defence can be traced back to the first act that established a set procedure for the indefinite detention of mentally ill offenders, the “Act for the safe custody of insane persons charged with offences” of 1800, this set procedure “applied to people charged with treason, murder, or felony who were acquitted on the grounds of insanity or who appeared to be insane when apprehended, brought in for arraignment or summoned for discharge due to a lack of prosecution.” In the wake of this, in 1843 the Queen v. M’Naghten case, in which Daniel M’Naghten shot and killed the secretary of the British Prime Minister proved to be an important cornerstone for the development of the Insanity plea and for what is known as ‘M’Naghten rule.’ This rule, established by the United Kingdom’s House of Lords, states: "Every man is to be

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The legal definition of insanity differs from the medical definition of insanity, and due to this, there have been ongoing debates on whether or not

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There is also an inclination to believe that if he had not suffered from this state, then the offence would not have been committed, specially not in the barbaric way it was done. Thus, it cannot be concluded that the accused willfully preformed the act, nor that the mens rea and the actus reus coincided while he was not in a psychotic state. (Roach, 113) Related to this finding is another element that supports the verdict of the Honorable Judge, which is the Principle of Fundamental Justice that states that no one should be “punished for morally involuntary actions.” (Roach, 82) A person who successfully raises the mental disorder defence is considered to be morally innocent of the act because they were not acting freely, in this case, free from psychotic ideations.

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This is especially a concern in the case of murder and determining whether the defendant was legally insane or guilty, but mentally ill. These two scenarios can have very different outcomes whether the defendant will serve their time in prison or in a mental institution, but also on the length of the sentence. In the case of John DuPont, the jury had to determine whether DuPont was sane or legally insane at the time of the crime, but also whether he was mentally ill. After DuPont was later determined competent to stand trial (after months of treatment with antipsychotic medication), the jury was inundated with testimony that was able to establish patterns of DuPont’s behavior that did not necessarily prove he was insane, but could establish he was mentally ill.

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In June of 2001, the entire nation was deeply disturbed by the horrific acts committed by a suburban Texas housewife, and mother of five. Andrea Yates had drowned all five of her young children in the bathtub of their home. Yates called the authorities and her husband Rusty Yates to the home, where she confessed to killing her children. According to Faith McLellan of the Lancet Medical Journal, Andrea Yates’s bizarre reasoning behind this horrific act was because she believed to have been marked by Satan, and that in order to save her children from hell she needed to take their lives (McLellan, 2006). Yates pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on the basis of mental defect due to postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

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The insanity defence is one of the most controversial topics in the legal system, used by many criminal defendants as an excuse for their unlawful activities. In fact, the Canadian legal system has experienced this in the case of Valentine Shortis, an Irish Immigrant who was convicted of killing two men, injuring one and attempted murder on March 1, 1895. Charged with murder and sentenced to death, Valentine’s Lawyer St. Pierre argued that he suffered from insanity, such as his inability to distinguish right from wrong. There was evidence from Shortis's friends, family, and neighbours who claimed that Shortis was arrogant and mischievous person. According to Friedland, the crown (Macmaster) stated that “he did many eccentric, rash and even

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Since the use of insanity defense typically has to do with knowing right from wrong he could not use this defense because he did in fact know what he was doing was wrong. Despite individuals knowing the wrongfulness of their act some may not be able to control their impulse to commit such act. We are captivated by the acts of some of these individuals

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Justice Tindall, whom was present at the M’Naughten trial when the insanity plea became a legal defense, breaks these rules into 3 statements. “Every person is presumed sane unless the contrary can be proven otherwise” (Allnut, et al. 293), which in this case it cannot. “A person suffering a ‘partial delusion’ should be dealt with as if the circumstances of the delusion was real” (Allnut, et al. 293). If Minnie was suffering from some sort of delusions, she would have used that as an excuse once Mr. Hale found her or would’ve had some crazy story on what happened. She got straight to the point.

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Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) is a form of insanity defense that allows for an individual to not be found guilty of a crime due to a mental defect or disease that results in a lack of mens rea, or the capability to intentionally commit a crime. However, simply having a mental illness or defect does not guarantee that an offender will be found NGRI. Not only would a defendant have to have a major or severe mental illness or disease, but the defendant would have to prove that their condition impaired them so greatly as to not have any control over their behavior or any concept that they had done anything wrong at the time of the offense. Although Bob undoubtedly had a diminished capacity for logic and reason in this case, the example as given does not provide enough detail to determine the nature of Bob’s personality or his potential motives in committing this crime. Nevertheless, there is one major flaw to Bob’s insanity defense: he tried to hide the crime.

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look for abnormalities in the individual's personality, thought processes, or belief structure as explanations for criminal behavior (Aebi, 2014). We're all familiar with the insanity defense, which is the idea that an individual is not responsible for his or her behavior because of a mental disease or defect that prevents the person from controlling their behavior and/or understanding the difference between right and wrong. This is based in part on the idea that psychological factors are related to behavior in general, which is in turn linked with deviance and potentially with criminality as well. Who would be considered a predicted criminal and to what level? The prediction of criminal behavior is one of the most central activities of the

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(Busby, 2022). This compared with the Irresistible Impulse Test, which states “the defendant will be found not guilty by reason of insanity if they can show that as a result of mental disease or defect, they could not resist the impulse to commit the crime of which they are accused, due to an inability to control their actions”

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Intro: “It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane” (PHILIP K. DICK, Valis). In present day America laws have been placed that prevent people who are “insane” to be guilty of the crimes they commit. In short, insanity is the state of being seriously mentally ill relating to madness. This is presented in the book Medea written by Euripides through her point of view. In Medea, a surge of insanity purges her after she is betrayed by her husband Jason causing many cruel and harsh actions to follow from her.

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The insanity defense is also known as the mental order defense. In the criminal justice system, a defendant that been evaluated to be legally insane when he or she committed the crime in some states may be found not guilty because of insanity (Schouten, 2012). This does vary, and it depends on the state laws and regulation when it comes to a case like this. However, in some cases the person may be found guilty and is sentenced to less time. For example, the time frame for murder is 20-25 years, but they may be only held accountable to do 5 years, due to their mental illness.

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For example, as seen in Clarke where the defendant left the supermarket which items she didn’t pay for, the judges ruled that in order to use the defense of insanity, the defendant’s powers of reasoning must be impaired; should he merely failed to use those powers, he wouldn’t be able to use the defense. In Clarke, the defendant was said to be ‘absent-minded’ and thus wasn’t able to use the defense of insanity. Another example can be seen in Kemp where the defendant irrationally attacked his wife with a hammer without any motives. It was later discovered that he was suffering from arteriosclerosis which caused a temporary loss of consciousness at the time of the crime. The defendant didn’t want to use the defense of insanity and instead used the defense of automatism.

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Conclusion In conclusion, insanity should be regarded as a mental condition that describes the lack of some mental capacity, rather than an avenue to be exploited to escape responsibility or punishment. Undoubtedly, the insanity defense is a multipart kind of case in proving that a person does not understand the nature of the unlawful act he/she was involved. It has developed considerably from being a mitigating factor in criminal cases to being a defense through the development of various tests adopted in different cases. The case requires that the accused person was suffering from mental illness during the commission of the crime and that the individual does not understand the nature of the offense.

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His actions were intended to inflict harm on his victims to satisfy his evil rage. His rage is caused by alcohol, which is not considered an excuse for insanity. While jailed, and presumed sober, he is very clear about his actions and his level of responsibility. He even provides testimony that he is not insane. An insane person would not be able to articulate the story with such clarity.

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