Insanity Defense Plea

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, capital punishment is currently authorized in 31 of our 50 states and still creates a great deal of controversy due to the moral dilemma of consciously killing a human being. But, with the insanity defense, an individual who may face the death penalty has the chance of being proven innocent by reason of insanity, and therefore, may avoid capital punishment altogether. Not only will the defendant’s life be spared, but he or she may be able to reenter society as a free and respected

A significant and controversial issue within the legal system is the ‘insanity defense’ in which during a criminal trial, the defendant will make a claim that they are not guilty by reason of insanity, or in other words, they have deficient and impaired cognitive and mental capabilities. These mental health problems associated with insanity are caused by psychopathological disorders, which may have led to their dysfunction. What separates this from a regular plead of ‘diminished capacity’ is that a plea of insanity is a full defense rather than just a partial defense (Legal information institute, n.d.). With the diminished capacity defense, the defendant’s mental competence is still the focus, although they are pleading to a lesser crime

Insanity Defense Jacob Zucker Grantham University Abstract This paper explores the use of the insanity defense. It focuses on analyzing the defense from the examples of John Hinkley and Lorena Bobbit. Insanity Defense

The Insanity Plea is a book about the Uses & Abuses of the Insanity Defense in

I completely agree media plays a very large role in the insanity defense claim. Its portrayed in movies and TV shows often. I think that multiple evaluations should be done by more than one psychologist. I think you would need more than one opinion to determine the truth. It would definitely be interesting to sit in on one of these

There are a few different types of insanity pleas in the court of law; however, just because someone pleads insane will try actually be found insane. About half of the states follow the "M 'Naughten" rule, based on the 1843 British case of Daniel M 'Naughten, a deranged woodcutter who attempted to assassinate the prime minister. He was acquitted, and the resulting standard is still used in 26 states in the U.S.: A defendant may be found not guilty by reason of insanity if "at the time of committing the act, he was laboring under such a defect of reason from disease of the mind as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or if he did know it, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong." (emphasis added) This test

The first criminal defense is pleading insanity which is an affirmative defense. Insanity is a “legal term rather than a medical one, and indicates a condition that renders the affected person incapable of rational thought, thereby removing criminal culpability” (Pollock, 2013). This means that a defendant is not responsible for their actions due to having mental health issues. If a defendant pleads guilty to a crime, but is found to be legally insane; they will still serve their sentence but with a lesser severe punishment. Once a defendant pleads insanity, they are often required to have a mental examination. When a defendant is in a court of law, they may claim that they were as mentally impaired with illness as to be “insane” at the time that they were committing the illegal act (Pollock, 2013). However, when pleading insanity it can also create issues by being used in a criminal proceeding.

Upon reaching a verdict or accepting this plea, the court would sentence the defendant for their crime pursuant to the law upon any defendant convicted of the same crime. The defendant would then be remanded to a designated psychiatric center or correctional facility with a mental health unit. Should the mental illness abate, the defendant would then remain in prison for the duration of their sentence. Nineteen states have already enacted laws to allow a "guilty but mentally ill" verdict. In addition, three states have eliminated the insanity defense all together.

Not guilty by reason of insanity is defined as “a verdict rendered by a jury in a criminal case that finds that the defendant was insane at the time of committing the crime as determined by application of the rest for insanity used in the jurisdiction compare guilty but mentally ill...” (FindLaw Legal Dictionary). This means that someone who has committed a crime cannot be tried as guilty for the crime at hand due to the determination that the defendant is “insane”; “a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction...” (Google). A person who is determined “not guilty by reason of insanity” (NGRI) is sent to a psychiatric hospital for the amount of time given by a judge. The criminally insane person is given psychiatric care, whether it be prescription pills, milieu therapy or group therapy, until he or she is believed to be suitable to enter back into society. Whether the person is safe to be back in society or not is determined by a psychiatrist or doctor that has jurisdiction over the patient. The question at hand is: When is a criminally insane person able to be apart of society and apart of the real world after they are determined not guilt by reason of insanity? Criminally insane persons are a threat to society, which is why they are hospitalized. The criminally insane must reach a certain point or there must be a reason why they are finally determined able to be conditionally released. The first source presented is from “Evaluating

Cryer et al. (2014) argue that insanity defense shouldn't be confused with defendant's incompetency. This is because individuals who are incompetent in a court of law are not able to stand their trial. For this reason, any incompetent defendant is held in a mental institution up to the period they are considered to participate or make informed decisions in the court of law's proceedings. Additionally, insanity defense that is perceived to be incompetence is separated from issues such as mental retardation. For example, a ruling that was carried out by the United States Supreme Court in 2002, Atkins v. Virginia argue that the effect of the defendants who are mentally retarded comprise of unusual and cruel punishment. This is not prohibited

Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity (NGRI) has been used and adapted throughout various court cases in history. Many specific rulings have played important roles in many high profile cases including those of Jeffrey Dahmer, John Hinckley and John DuPont. The following paper outlines various insanity rulings and specific cases they have been used in.

The plea should be considered as a right for criminals trying to justify themselves in court. It would right to help the people who are mentally ill rather than avoiding the fact that they are mentally incompetent, and placing them in prison. There would be negative affects if mentally ill defendants do not get the proper medical treatment necessary. It is better to take action against the mental illness of a criminal so they will not put themselves and others at risk. The insanity defense would most likely lead them to a longer sentence, but will give them a chance to better their mental

Image a life where you have difficulty defending yourself and nobody can clearly understand you. Now visualize trying to convince others that you are innocent of a crime. Since the early 80s, more than sixty mentally ill criminals have been executed the US (Mental Illness on Death Row). This paper will discuss the relationship between the law and the challenges faced by mentally criminals from tries to appeals and execution. It provides examples of some of the more famous cases of the execution of the mentally ill and describes current legislative. But we would try answer the whether the mentally disabled criminals should be charged with a death penalty. Throughout this paper, we will use Borromeo 's definition of someone with mental issues. He stated "mental retardation is a lifelong condition of impaired or incomplete mental development..." ( Borromeo 178). Some examples of these illnesses include but are not limited to major depression, bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder .

If I were Lacey’s attorney I would the self-defense strategy or battered woman defense to win the case. Lacey claims to have been beaten in her marriage for 5 years and since she stated she was fearful of her life, the murder was in self-defense. As a battered woman she should have physical evidence of bruises, scratches, broken bones, etc. This would prove that she did not kill her husband unless she felt it was necessary for her safety (Gardner & Anderson, 2012.).

"Forgiving someone in your heart doesn't mean that you let them loose in Virginia to pursue whatever dark agendas they may still hold dear," writes Patti Davis, whose father’s would-be assassin was deemed legally insane, but was later released from a mental hospital. In the American justice system, an unjust plea remains an escape for a convicted man to lessen the punishment he receives and deserves. Consider one young girl who faced up to 65 years in prison for murdering her classmate, but escaped with only three years in a mental institution. Should she get off on such a small sentence while most other people would have been behind bars for 65 years? Use of the Insanity Plea in the American justice system should be amended since it has often resulted in an unjust legal outcome that provides the accused with a convenient technicality to avoid punishment.