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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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Two Arguments Against The Insanity Defense By Thomas Szasz

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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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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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The Pros And Cons Of The Insanity Defense

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Beneficial Defense In keeping the insanity defense as it stands the benefits outweigh the problems. This defense fixes problems with the mentally insane and leads to curing more of the mentally ill. Viewing the defense as a benefit seems to fit if it helps more people than it harms, although other views have been brought against it opposing the defense. The jurisdictions that have kept the defense see it rarely and take it as a claim of innocence.

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Alex Murdaugh: The Plea Of Insanity

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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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The Pros And Cons Of The Insanity Defense

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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.

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Examples Of Insanity Plea

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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

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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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Lee Robin's Case Summary

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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 Plea Persuasive Essay

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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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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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Arguments Against Insanity Defense

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The Insanity Defense is used in about 1% of all court cases, in which only about 26% of them are actually successful (Asia-Pacific). By definition, Insanity Defense is “A defense asserted by an accused in a criminal prosecution to avoid liability for the commission of a crime because, at the time of the crime, the person did not appreciate the nature or quality or wrongfulness of the acts (West’s).” This is one the most controversial defense strategies used in the judicial system. It can be taken advantage of. Pleading not guilty by way of insanity should not be used in the Judicial System because in most cases, it is abused, used as a legal maneuver, and does not allow the death penalty.

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Insanity Defense Essay

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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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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

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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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