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The Pros And Cons Of The Insanity Defense

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In the American legal system, there is a well known criminal defense strategy called the insanity defense. This plea ultimately claims and acknowledges that the person being tried was involved in the crime but was not, however, in a sound mental state and should therefore be pardoned from their actions. This idea was created in order to provide a defense for the criminals who do not have a sound mind, getting the court to label them as innocent as a result of their insanity. This particular method of defense falls under something called the excuse defense category, which uses an excuse, in this case insanity, to remove the responsibility of one's actions that resulted in the harm of others or the crime committed. In order for this plea to actually …show more content…

However, by taking a look at the other side of the spectrum, it is clear to see that just because the insanity defense is used does not mean that all people believe it should be. One of the major arguments against the insanity defense is that defendants are only using the insanity plea in order to get out of their criminal charges by either faking or dramatizing a mental illness. It's also a common argument that there is no real way to measure someone's true sanity, and so it is very difficult to determine if someone is faking being insane. Morse states that this defense confuses “causation with excuse or moral and legal concepts with medical concepts.” This shows that many believe morals and ideals do not directly relate to medical ideals, so by using one to justify the other just isn't fair nor right to the legal system. He continues by writing that the insanity defense “produces wrong verdicts.” and that the “assessment of past mental state is too difficult.” Ultimately, meaning that you can never really know who is lying to get out of their charges and who is truly

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The fact is that the insanity plea only covers those who are truly insane, and even then, they must provide “clear and convincing evidence”, meaning that there must be some sort of absolute that provides their excuse.(Source C) Many of the crimes that are pleaded for insanity actually fall under diminished capacity. This is where the controversy is born, under the belief that those who are pleading for insanity are only incapacitated, not insane. The Courts are able to distinguish these differences. “Insanity plea statistics reveals that almost 70% of defendants withdrew their defense on insanity plea when their respective state appointed experts found out that they were legally san persons.”

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