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The Importance Of The NGRI Defense

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As a citizen of the United States it is our obligation to serve on a jury when we are called. It is our duty to be apart of a panel and directly participate in the judicial process. Your decision can ultimately determine one’s life so it’s important to understand the facts from myths. What happens when someone pleas not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI)? What does that mean? Are they trying to beat the system?

A number of us will turn on the TV or scroll through social media multiple times a day. We might just happen to run into a court case where the offender pleads not guilty by reason of insanity. Some may roll their eyes, some will shake their heads, and others may just skip onto the next topic. However, what does this really mean? Is …show more content…

Many jurors and civilians can not accept that an individual was being let go because they were mentally ill, and not being held responsible for the action they had done. Most people believe that the NGRI verdict is better than the guilty verdict, when really that’s not the case. There are many myths that the public holds about the NGRI defense which can be a serious issue in search for help with ones’ health. Because of this, it is important that the public is educated and non-bias when it comes to deciding a …show more content…

Let’s say the court does find the offender not guilty by reason of insanity, does this mean their sentence will be lighter? Will they ever get back into the community?

As stated before, NGRI is NOT an easy way out. Most, if not all NGRI offenders will eventually return back into the community. However, this is a very complex process. While offenders’ treatment and confinement are provided by the mental health system, their release is controlled by the criminal justice system. In order for the patient to be released from the mental health facility, he or she needs to prove to the court of law that they no longer suffer from the mental illness and are no longer a danger to themselves or society.

All recommendations to be released to the community are made by the review panel, which then communicate with the court and the final decision is made by the judge. If the offender does pass they are under mental health parole or probation which tends to be more strict than criminal justice parole or probation. The main differences between the two are in length, the requirements, and who is in charge of

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