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Should We Eradicate The Insanity Plea By Jeffrey Dahmer

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The Insanity Plea Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer and sex offender who committed heinous crimes to seventeen men and boys. During a scheduled preliminary hearing in 1992, he pleaded guilty but insane to 15 counts of murder, but was denied. Most people would believe that this man must be sick to do these types of things to other human beings, so why was the plea denied? “A person accused of a crime can acknowledge that they committed the crime, but argue that they are not responsible for it because of their mental illness, by pleading ‘not guilty by reason of insanity.’” (Wex par. 2) We should eradicate the insanity plea with the three points of; it is hardly ever used, scarcely gets accepted and it looks like an easy way out. On the opposing side the plea should stay for people to …show more content…

“Yet so hostile have Americans become to the possibility that someone might ‘get away’ with murder that a jury would probably reject the insanity plea.” (Witkin par. 2) People seem so scared to let a guilty man walk free that they will deny a plea for insanity just to make sure they get locked away. “Most of us think we innately know whos crazy, and anyone who looks more normal than,say, Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, just doesn’t qualify.” (Witkin par.4) This isn’t good because if someone really is sick they need help but the jury usually feels scared to let the accused ‘get away’ with the crime. “The insanity defense reflects a compromise on the part of society and the law. On the one hand, society believes that criminals should be punished for their crimes; on the other hand, society believes that people who are ill should receive treatment for their illness.” (Wex par.3) Mentally ill people deserve treatment to help them get better or at least try to get better. So many cases get turned in and very few get looked at or

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