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Insanity Defense Pros And Cons

1468 Words6 Pages

The idea of someone being so mentally ill that he or she is unable of comprehending his or her actions and should not be held accountable for them has been a long-standing doctrine in the justice system. Since it was established in 1843, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the subject. While many people think that the insanity defense is just a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card, however, I think that the insanity defense not only assists the mentally ill , but also benefits everyone else as well. Firstly, having the insanity defense administers help to those in need of it. Secondly, the mentally ill may not be suitable for rough prison life. And lastly, the mentally ill should not be held accountable for committing something they were …show more content…

But that is not the case. In order to declare a person legally insane, that person must first go through tests to prove that they are not mentally stable. The most popular being the "The Model Penal Code", which enjoyed immediate popularity in the 1970s with legislatures and judiciaries as it was considered to be more flexible than previous tests for insanity. The other, more widely used test is the M'Naughten rule, which was established in 1843. The M'Naughten rule states that the defendant is deemed insane if he or she was incapable of knowing the nature and quality of the act that he was performing or if he or she did not know what he was doing was wrong. In the Model Penal Code test, the offender is found not guilty by reason of insanity if he or she at the time of the incident is incapable of appreciating the criminality of his conduct, or if he or she was not able to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law. In both tests, comprehensive and thorough medical evaluation is needed. Medical health professionals are also required to testify as to the defendant's condition. Moreover, the more successful bids for an insanity plea generally involve persons with past history of mental illness. Otherwise, it proves to be significantly more challenging to convince a court that the defendant is mentally ill. Thus, I think that the issue of defendants faking mental illness, or pretending to be insane is unnecessary as there are many precautions and measures put in place specifically to prevent this

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When it comes to the case Miller V. State, I believe that trial court refused to give the jury instructions regarding the insanity defense, which the defendant wished to have comunicated, because they wanted the jury to be able to decide imoartially. Miller was examined by three medical experts and they concluded that Miller satisfied the M'naughten insanity test when he stabbed Goring. The district court had instructed the jury to determine whether Miller was actually legally insane when he stabbed Goring. They wanted the jury to find proof of insanity at that time, and to also consider Miller's mental condition "before and after the killing to throw light on what Miller's mental condition was at the time of the killing" (Schmalleger

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In the field of criminal law there is a certain type of criminal defense that comes to the court and has a low success rate. These cases concern the mental capacity of the defendant and if they have enough mental capacity, or are sane enough, to be aware of their crime and consequences of crime. The insanity defense is extremely rare because of how difficult it is for the defense to prove to the court and jury that the defendant did not have the mental capacity to understand what they did wrong and the consequences from it. The case of Myers III v. State of Indiana is one example of criminal responsibility and mental capacity. This case has information that can be connected to the textbook with the insanity defense tests, mental competence

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The Insanity Verdict on Trial written by Scott O. Lilienfeld. This article explains how the insanity defense originally came about, through Daniel McNaighton in 1843. McNaighton was acquitted after planning to kill the British Prime Minister and accidentally ending up killing his secretary. McNaighton’s reasoning behind the attack was that he thought the government was out to get him, thus a form of mental insanity. “Reacting to public anger to the verdict, a panel of judges fashioned a guideline for insanity, now called the McNaughton rule: to be declared insane, defendants must either not have known what they were doing at the time or not have realized their actions were wrong” (Lilienfeld).

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