Conspiracy and the Plea of Insanity

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Conspiracy and the Plea of Insanity Abstract This paper will define the four types of participant liability and give examples of each. It will also give a brief history of the different insanity test used in the past and discuss the Model Penal code substantial capacity test of insanity. Participant liability under Common Law otherwise called “conspiracy” is a crime in itself. The crime of conspiracy is the oldest of the preliminary crimes.(Gardner 84) There are four types. Examples of each are as follows. 1.) Two or more persons come to a mutual understanding to try to accomplish a common and unlawful plan. This is when two people discuss how to commit a crime before committing it. The two act together. 2.) The defendant willfully becomes a member of the conspiracy. This is when one person willing helps. An example would be that a man plans to commit a burglary at a store and the sales girl intentionally leaves the alarm off or the door unlocked. The sales girl would charged with conspiracy. 3.) During the conspiracy at least one of the conspirators commits an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. In this type, two men plan to rob a convenient store and once inside, one of them takes it upon himself to shoot the clerk because the clerk is not moving as fast as he wants them to. Shooting the clerk was not in the plan. 4.) The overt act is knowingly committed in an effort to further the purpose of the conspiracy. This is similar to #3 shooting the clerk was part of the plan before entering the store to commit robbery. I’m not a big fan on the whole Insanity Plea so I’m including a brief history of the different capacity test of insanity that has been use in the past. We all know that a person cannot be held accountable for crimes resulting from the condition where he or she is found legally

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