Aside from the verdict from the Hinckley trial, the public’s view on the insanity defense is not altogether accurate. There’s a misconception that criminals who use this type of reasoning as a plea can evade punishment. When it comes to the use of the insanity defense, only about one percent of criminals use this type of justification. By using the insanity defense, the criminal is admitting they are guilty of the crime however they are requesting a not guilty verdict based on the state of mind they were in at the time of the crime. This can get tricky for a defendant because if not proven mentally ill, they will be found guilty and usually endure a harsher sentencing for the crime.
Yet, why does one get away with it and another does not? Depending on the severity of their illness and the intensity of the crime, individuals with a mental illness who commit a crime should not be convicted, but they should be hospitalized if they are a threat to society. The question that most people ask when proposed this question is: who is considered mentally ill? To clarify, there are two prevailing legal tests to determine whether or not a defendant is legally insane. According to Terry Lenamon, expert Criminal Trial Attorney, the first, and most popular, is the “M’Naghten test.” Lenamon says, “Under M’Naghten, the determining factor is whether or not the defendant was (1) able to understand what he (or she) was doing at the time of the crime due to some “defect of reason or disease of the mind” or, (2) if he (or she) was aware of what they were doing, that he (or she) nevertheless failed to comprehend or understand that what they were doing was wrong” (Lenamon).
Criminal Defense Case Analysis Lina Webb CJA 354-Criminal Law Instructor: Stephanie Smith December 20, 2013 Criminal Defense Case Analysis The insanity defense is a very controversial one. Throughout history there have been many shows, books, and movies displaying insanity to avoid being convicted of murder. The insanity defense is used in-frequently and is not a popular one and usually only used in cases that are very serious. Society seems to be becoming more open to the idea of defenses that were once thought of with a less serious tone. Justification and excuse both play an interesting role in the criminal justice field.
What Is A Wrongful Death Lawsuit? If you suspect that someone committed an action that prematurely caused a family member to die, then you should consult a lawyer. Wrongful death claims can be filed in addition to criminal charges. The criminal and civil charges are not connected to each other. A defendant may be found guilty in one case but not guilty in another.
After medical professionals deem a person mentally ill, the court room can then proceed to conclude an insanity defense. Both understand that claiming a mental illness can be sufficient enough to somewhat relieve the burden of guilt in a court of law. The diagnosis of mental illness does not automatically deem innocence and the person usually becomes institutionalized, therefore treated, but not punished for their uncontrollable actions. In a courtroom, the idea an insanity defense created a right-wrong test which was established with the M’Naghten Rule in the case Queen v. M'Naghten (1843). This test was applied when deciding if a person, at the time of the committing of the act, 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 knew
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.
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.
Though the validity of this study cannot be refuted, it still possesses some limitations. A major limitation of the first study was that it was based on a survey done using questionnaires and does not assess in real time, the degree of violence exhibited. It would have also been better if the study was by direct observation or by confirmation of the violent tendencies through more objective means which would have further consolidated the
To say that a specific action or event causes criminal behavior in an individual is an absurd notion. There are many variables that contribute to criminal behavior; however, a known cause is still up for debate. The events this literature review focuses on is traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and its correlation with criminal behavior. There are theories as to why TBI promotes criminal behavior and the connection always comes back to the frontal lobe of the brain. The frontal lobes control motor function, problem solving, judgment, impulse control, and social behavior and when damage is inflicted upon this area, an individual is affected in the way they react and think due to the cognitive impairment.
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