Lorena Bobbitt: A Brief History Of The Insanity Defense

There are many cases where the insanity defense was used but not all of them were successful. One case that was successful using that insanity defense was Lorena Bobbitt. She was married to John Bobbitt and were from Virginia. John Bobbitt had a history of mental abuse and sexual abuse towards Lorena Bobbitt. On June 23, 1993 John showed up at their house completely intoxicated and raped his wife Lorena. When John was finished raping his wife, Lorena went into the kitchen for a drink and seen a knife. Lorena began remembering all the horrible things her husband did to her over the years and took the knife into the room where John was passed out and cut off most of his penis. Lorena left their home and went to a field where she throw his genitals

During her trial she told those in the court room about the years of abuse. Her defense claimed she was suffering from clinical depression from her abusive marriage which caused her to injury her husband. Lorena was acquitted of her charges due to temporary insanity and could not be held responsible for her actions. Lorena was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation for 45 days and was released after she completed that. She is now an advocate for domestic violence (http://listverse.com/2012/04/11/top-10-most-notorious-insanity-defense-cases/ ). The purpose of an insanity defense is usually to help those who have mental disabilities and do not understand what or why they are being charged with a crime. It will help them get a lesser sentence and in some cases even be acquitted of those crimes if you can show your client had a mental break, was under duress, past history of abuse, your home life, if you can prove that your client is unstable for any reason, you can use the insanity defense. It’s just whether the jury believes it or

One of the biggest pros would be if your client was found not guilty of the crime, he or she will not be sentenced to the death penalty or life in prison. Another pro your client might not be sent to jail but you can’t always guarantee that will happen if they are found guilty of a lesser charge. One more pro for using the insanity defense is that if you are sent to a psychiatric facility to determine if you are sane or not, once you are cleared to be safe and not a harm to you or others, your client will be set free. There are also some cons to using the insanity defense. One being some jurisdictions already abolished the insanity plea while other states it is now a lot harder to get acquitted on. A second con would be without a previous mental record the jurisdiction will not believe the defense as easy as they would with someone with a mental history. A third con would be that the insanity defense is not a guarantee that your client will be set free but is almost very likely that your client be sent to a psychiatric facility for evaluation (http://apecsec.org/insanity-defense-pros-and-cons/