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The Pros And Cons Of The Insanity Defense

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Insanity defense of seen as being one of the most controversial of all criminal defense strategies. also, it is also one of the least uses criminal defense strategies. However, in 1984 when it was being used by John W Hinckley, Jr attempted the assassination of President Ronald Reagan, the insanity defense was used to provoke a public debate. The insanity defense purpose is used so criminal defendants should not be found guilty due to the defendant's insanity, but pleading as insanity refers to a specific dysfunction. A person who us insane lacks the intent requites to perform said a criminal act because the individual does not know that they act of crime they have committed is wrong or cannot control their actions even when they are aware that the act is wrong. This theory itself is seen to be controversial because insanity itself is difficult to define and difficult to characterize. …show more content…

For the insanity defense to work, the defense must admit that the crime did infect happen, but the defendant did not actually commit the crime. The goal rather than trying to dispute facts is to find the defendant as being innocent because of their mental state. Another pro for the insanity defense is that it does not allow the death penalty to be used. This is one huge advantage for the insanity defense because one that is accused could avoid the death penalty even if they were proven to be guilty. Lastly, it can save a life, if an individual really does have a mental incapacity and its considered that their condition has caused them to commit a capital crime which means the defendant could save their life. However, being found not guilty because of insanity does not mean a punishment is out of the question. It could lead to the individual being housed at a professional mental health treatment

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Lee Robin's Case Summary

593 Words | 3 Pages

An incident where pleading insanity worked in one’s favor is heard in the case of Lee Robin. Lee Robin was a 30-year-old doctor who was charged with murder of his wife and his two year old daughter. Robin admitted to killing his wife with an ax and drowning his infant daughter. After the murders, Robin called the police and reported that there was “a problem” at his home. Soon after, the police arrived.

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Insanity Defense Of Andrea Yates

935 Words | 4 Pages

Dr. Mark Nolan, Senior Lecturer at ANU College of Law, says that the NGRI plea “enables defendants to avoid criminal liability and standard criminal punishment” (Nolan 8). The main disagreement with America is the focus whether if the “guilty defendant” pursues to misuse the “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” as an alternative to imprisonment or if the criminally accused was at the time of committing the crime “clinically insane” and in need psychotherapy. Therefore, during this discussion of opposing viewpoints concerning the insanity defense being misused or ethical are going to be

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Two Arguments Against The Insanity Defense By Thomas Szasz

242 Words | 1 Pages

So what can be done? A few numbers of American writers have argued that the insanity defence should be abolished. Two arguments have been relied upon. The first is that the insane defendant should be able to rely upon the same defenses as a sane defendant. For an instance, if an insane person lacks mens rea for an offence he deserves to be acquitted.

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Death Penalty In Hitchcock's In Cold Blood

544 Words | 3 Pages

Insanity can happen by brain deficiencies or the environment you grew up in and also how you were raised. At the moment of the crimes that people make they don’t know right from wrong when they have a psychotic episode. The real question is should people with insanity be punished for what they have done and could they control what they were doing at the time.

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M Naughten Test For Murder Essay

516 Words | 3 Pages

There are three tests that are used in criminal justice to decide if a defendant was suffering insanity at the time of a murder. Each test includes of many essentials to govern what an offender may have been going through or if he or she is suffering from mental illness. On the other hand, some offenders may have been suffering from an injury while another might be playing the role in an effort to be set free by a motive of pretending to be insane. It has been documented that some wrongdoers who commit crimes are blind-sided because of the lack of knowledge due to insanity. That does not mean that this person is not going to receive some type of repercussion for his or her actions, but there are a series of tests that must take place before a determination

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Alex Murdaugh: The Plea Of Insanity

1104 Words | 5 Pages

Plea of Insanity The plea of insanity is a defense in which the defendant cannot be held criminally responsible for a crime due to them not being in a stable mindset. In the ongoing trial of Alex Murdaugh, the question of whether or not he should claim insanity is still up for debate. But many things must still be considered before saying that he should not. Before the murder trial most people knew Alex Murdaugh as a thief and drug addict, but that is only half of the story.

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Examples Of Insanity Plea

590 Words | 3 Pages

The legal definition of insanity is, “mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior,” and this can be proved to be allowed to the defendant's case. For this, the defendant should receive the insanity plea to receive help for his crippling illness.

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Insanity Defense Overused

1667 Words | 7 Pages

This case, while Monte Durham wasn’t able to be proven insane, lead to reformations of the M’naghten Rule that would eventually be called the Durham Rule. Going back to Fersch’ book, this would implement more scientific approaches to determine if somebody was legally insane (3). Later in 1984, President Reagan would implement the Comprehensive Crime Control Act that required criminals to prove that they are mentally insane. With the history of the insanity defense concluded, let us take a look at some cases where the insanity defense is involved as the criminal’s reason for their

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Essay: Should The Insanity Defense Be Reformed?

1543 Words | 7 Pages

Should the insanity defence be reformed? Discuss referring to current law and evidence on how the defence is used in practice. This essay will analyse the defence of insanity by discussing the elements of M’Naghten rule: defect of reason, disease of the mind, and not knowing what defendant was doing or not knowing that it was ‘wrong’ at the time of offence, and the fit to trial test by reviewing relevant cases to demonstrate how the defence is applied in Criminal Law, and possible reform for the defence of insanity. The defence of insanity is for all crimes to those who are suffering from mental disorders and do not know what they are doing at the time of the offence or do not know that what they are doing is wrong.

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Insanity Plea Persuasive Essay

733 Words | 3 Pages

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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Pros And Cons Of The Insanity Claims

1236 Words | 5 Pages

When people think of the insanity claim, they typically think of something drastic and unforgivable as murder, but in all actuality and according to this source “60 to 70 percent of insanity pleas are for crimes other than murder” (Insanity Defense Is) which shows that majority of the time the insanity claim is hardly used, much less effective. However it is shown that forty-eight out of the fifty United States have the insanity claim as a defense along with multiple European and Asian countries which shows that there is a use for this; the insanity claim does serve a purpose. Of course, controversy lies as “these myths have led to the belief that criminals can avoid punishment by claiming insanity” (Insanity Defense Is) but this couldn’t be correct as “juries find only 20 percent of defendants who plead insanity” (Insanity Defense Is). Along with what this statistic shows, it proves that while the defense varies from state to state, there is a foundation that remains to insure that people who are looking for a lighter sentence don’t get that right that is reserved for those that actually need

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Arguments For The Insanity Defense

2547 Words | 11 Pages

The insanity defense proves defendants not guilty by arguing that at the time of the crime they lacked the mental capacity to realize that they were committing a crime. This defense is currently used in 46 states, some of which allow defendants to argue that they had no control over their actions even if they realized that what they were doing was unlawful (Mental Health America). The insanity defense was created to impose a moral check on the judicial system; many people argued that if children aren’t punished for crimes because they are too young to realize that their actions are wrong, then adults who aren’t mentally capable of making this distinction shouldn’t be punished either. This defense, however, is often abused, which defeats its

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Insanity Defense Essay

995 Words | 4 Pages

Since many centuries, the liability of the insane for crime has always been one of the most controversial questions in the Criminal Law. In fact, it is very controversial because insanity itself is difficult to define, and the circumstances in which insanity can be used as exculpatory evidence are difficult to characterize. Insanity defense appeared before so many centuries, and according to California Law review, Crotty (1924) stated “The insane offender has been dealt with from the earliest times in English law. Probably the earliest authority is Theodoric, Archbishop of Canterbury (668-690 A.D.).”

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Arguments Against Insanity Defense

1042 Words | 5 Pages

For example, people try using insanity as a defense when being prosecuted in a criminal case. (Math, Kumar, and Moirangthem) It is based on the assumptions that at the time of the crime, the defendant was not suffering from severe mental illness. Therefore, they were well aware that they were committing a crime.

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Essay On Insanity Defense

594 Words | 3 Pages

Though well-established, the two tests are always challenged. One of the reasons is due to the discrepancy between the legal insanity and medical insanity: legal insanity and medical insanity only partially overlap, but a legal insanity is not necessarily a medical insanity, vice verses. For example, we might use the discrepancy to criticize the mandatory hospitalization for the insane murderer. After being diagnosed as insane, the murderer would not be responsible for his act, but instead, he would be sent to the hospital for psychological treatment. Nevertheless, suppose the murderer only possesses the disorder that only exists in legal term, what treatments can doctor adopt to cure him if there is even no such disease exists?

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