In this speech I am going to tell you about the types of insanity defense that are used in court cases, the process that goes into verifying a criminals sanity, and the issues that come about after a plea is entered. Now I’m going to explain what insanity is and the different types associate with it. The insanity defense plea as defined in law journals is a defense that’s asserted by the accused in a criminal prosecution as a way to avoid liability for a 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. Cognitive insanity is the most common variation of an insanity defense that goes through the court system. This is where the defendant during the time of the crime suffered from a mental disease that impaired his/her psychological ability to see the wrongfulness of the act they committed.
This could be especially true in the case of researching court proceedings as it is unlikely many researchers have gone through one themselves. Recordings could also be tainted as researchers must rely on memory as notes cannot be made openly. However, this research method is arguably far more useful than just collecting statistical data. Covert observation has long been regarded as unethical. This is due to an absence of informed consent from participants, however Humphreys justified covert observation by suggesting it is the only way to study
Since insanity is defined so arbitrarily, lawyers can protect their clients from their punishments with relative ease by dragging out the legal process for years at a time by using the insanity defense. To be protected with the insanity defense in many states, a criminal must take the M'Naghten test: failure to determine right from wrong deems the criminal insane (Cornell University Law School). Although some argue that people with mental illnesses cannot be held accountable for their actions, the greater concern should be for the overall safety for The United States of America because criminals who plead insanity can be a danger when released, legal definitions of insanity vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Supreme Court has upheld four states' abolishing of insanity defense, and there is incomplete research on insanity. Shafer !2 Insane criminals who are found not guilty by reason of insanity are sent to mental hospitals to rehabilitate and treat their illness. The problem is that the criminals who are sent to a hospital and become "cured" could be a danger to society.
If a jury fails or refuses to convict a defendant in a criminal trial even though there if proof of guilt, jury nullification takes place. This is because the jury believes the law is being biased or unjust. If jury nullification is used in an honest and appropriate manner, it is likely to favor minorities in the courtroom in terms of sentencing for the crime committed as opposed to it being based on race. Most people that are picked to be on a jury do not know about jury nullification. A jury, juror, or judge can nullify a case in almost any
The judge, a disinterested party, ensures that the two sides play by the rules. The adversarial process can sometimes seem to result in defense attorneys and prosecutors advocating for one side at the expense of the truth, the process requires lawyers to strike the most advantageous deal they can for their clients, even if they realize that other
There are criminals that need help but do not get help there for result in criminal activity. Then there are the criminals that are flat out insane. The correctional stage can be effective; it just depends on the sanity of the
Another case example is Pagett (1983) where the defendant was found guilty for the muder of his girlfriend a had it not been ‘but for’ his actions she would not have been killed by police bullets. Secondly it needs to proved that the defendant’s conduct was the legal cause of the consequence. Under this principle, there is the de minimus rule. In such cases there may be more than one act contributing to the consequence, some of which may have been caused by people other than the defendant. The rule is that the defendant can be found guilty if his conduct was more than a ‘minimal’ cause of the consequence, but the defendants conduct need not be the substantial cause.
It applies to persons who commit criminal acts but cannot be found criminally responsible because they were mentally impaired when the offense took place. Automatism could be the result of a range of conditions including hypnotism, sleepwalking, having a brain tumor or epilepsy. Non-insane automatism means a mental disease did not cause the automatism, rather it was caused by some other temporary factor. In this case, accused can be set free upon acquittal. Insane automatism falls under the defense of “mental disorder” and even if accused is acquitted, he or she may not be released into society.
When it comes to assault, robbery, and burglary cases there will be typically more error due to eyewitness identification and circumstantial evidence. b. Most exonerations are not tracked when it comes to local and state municipalities so most cases prosecutors will say and go with the original verdict because they feel they usually are accurately right even with new evidence that could show innocence this then clouds the understanding of wrongful convictions. 3. Causes of Wrongful Convictions a.
This code states that the person is capable for using this defense in the case of mental insanity if the do not have the ability to appreciate the fact that they have committed a crime and what that entails or that they are unable to conform to the moral and legal codes of society. (ALI Moral Penal Code (1962)) In regards to this case, I feel that the defendant did know what he was doing but do to the fact that he was either under the influence of the drugs at the time and dor he was mentally unstable and believed that he was saving her rather than killing her when he committed the crime. The reason that I feel that we can use this defense is the fact that the defendant ranted about aliens and the fact that he was god when the officers went to arrest him. He also kept a journal until he decided the time was right to perform the "saving" of the