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Pros And Cons Of The Insanity Plea

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“Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.” according to Steve Landsberg. The insanity plea, although helpful in some cases, can be abused by a multitude of convicted criminals looking for an effortless trial. The first example of the insanity defense ever being used during a court case would be in the 1843. When Daniel M’Naughten tried to assassinate the prime minister of Britain, he was put on trial and was later acquitted due to being found not guilty by reason of insanity. This was later carried out through twenty-six other states, including the U.S., which created a precedent against the execution of the mentally ill in 1986. Even though the mentally ill cannot be executed, if the person who claimed mental illness is no longer mentally ill he or she can be executed. While the insanity plea proves that some criminals are mentally unstable, it should be used with caution because many convicted criminals abuse it during court cases, imitate being mentally ill during an examination, and are able to avoid the death penalty. Despite that the insanity plea can potentially help someone in defense for a mental illness case, many people can also take advantage of these precedents to alleviate their trials. The public in most insanity plea cases, do not typically agree with the rulings because most criminals use the …show more content…

This causes many issues within the system due to the lack of evaluation during cases’, and hardly any representations of illnesses. These cases can be altered due to the public opinions during publicized cases which can pursue the judges and create a new outcome of a case. While the insanity plea proves that some criminals are mentally unstable, it should be used with caution because many convicted criminals abuse it during court cases’, imitate being mentally ill during an examination, and are able to avoid the death

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Examples Of Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity

641 Words | 3 Pages

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) is a form of insanity defense that allows for an individual to not be found guilty of a crime due to a mental defect or disease that results in a lack of mens rea, or the capability to intentionally commit a crime. However, simply having a mental illness or defect does not guarantee that an offender will be found NGRI. Not only would a defendant have to have a major or severe mental illness or disease, but the defendant would have to prove that their condition impaired them so greatly as to not have any control over their behavior or any concept that they had done anything wrong at the time of the offense. Although Bob undoubtedly had a diminished capacity for logic and reason in this case, the example as given does not provide enough detail to determine the nature of Bob’s personality or his potential motives in committing this crime. Nevertheless, there is one major flaw to Bob’s insanity defense: he tried to hide the crime.

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Summary Of The Insanity: The Case Of Andrea Yates

314 Words | 2 Pages

The next case was the M’Naghten. This case is what started the revolutionary insanity theory. The not guilty by reason of insanity was adopted by the New England first and then the United States. The test consisted of the cognitive test and the volitional test.

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FRE 704 V PA Rules Of Evidence

547 Words | 3 Pages

Those matters are for the trier of fact alone. Id. In this criminal case a mental health expert is prepared to offer an opinion on the whether the defendant was insane

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The Insane: The Case Of Andrea Yates

768 Words | 4 Pages

The first time I heard about the insanity plea was in the Andrea Yates case back in 2001. Yates was class valedictorian when she was in high school with a good background.

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What Is Myers III V. State Of Indiana An Example Of Mental Competency?

1528 Words | 7 Pages

In the field of criminal law there is a certain type of criminal defense that comes to the court and has a low success rate. These cases concern the mental capacity of the defendant and if they have enough mental capacity, or are sane enough, to be aware of their crime and consequences of crime. The insanity defense is extremely rare because of how difficult it is for the defense to prove to the court and jury that the defendant did not have the mental capacity to understand what they did wrong and the consequences from it. The case of Myers III v. State of Indiana is one example of criminal responsibility and mental capacity. This case has information that can be connected to the textbook with the insanity defense tests, mental competence

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Insanity Defense Of Andrea Yates

935 Words | 4 Pages

Dr. Mark Nolan, Senior Lecturer at ANU College of Law, says that the NGRI plea “enables defendants to avoid criminal liability and standard criminal punishment” (Nolan 8). The main disagreement with America is the focus whether if the “guilty defendant” pursues to misuse the “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” as an alternative to imprisonment or if the criminally accused was at the time of committing the crime “clinically insane” and in need psychotherapy. Therefore, during this discussion of opposing viewpoints concerning the insanity defense being misused or ethical are going to be

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Pros And Cons Of Plea Bargaining

737 Words | 3 Pages

Plea Bargaining Plea bargaining is the negotiations between prosecutors and defense lawyers on how to resolve criminal charges (Fagin pg.177). The defendant carries the guilty plea in return for a reduction sentence or dismissal of some charges. Estimates state that 97% of federal cases have used this method without ever going to trial (Fagin pg.177). Once all sides agree, the actual sentencing is completely up to the judge, not the lawyers.

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Mental Illness In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

885 Words | 4 Pages

The M'Naghten Rule states that the only proof of insanity is if a person is unable to distinguish between right and wrong at the time they commit a crime. Under this law, many mental insane people are classified as sane because they show no physical prominent issues. (Capote, Conversations 129-130)The M'Naghten rule plays a giant role in the novel In Cold Blood. A doctor is put on the stand during the trial of Dick and Perry to testify regarding their mental illnesses. The novel states, " It was hopeless because though Dr.Jones agreed to elaborate, the prosecution was entitled to object -- and did, citing the fact that Kansas law allowed nothing more than a yes or no reply to that pertinent

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8th Amendment Capital Punishment

1708 Words | 7 Pages

Yet, there is a significant proportion of death row inmates are mentally ill and the research evidence found suggests that mental illness is often, in fact, an aggravating factor as far as capital sentencing bodies are concerned. The Supreme Court eventually came to the conclusion of this: “If it is cruel and unusual punishment to hold convicted criminals in unsafe conditions, it must be unconstitutional to confine the involuntarily committed - who may not be punished at all - in unsafe conditions” (French, 2005) There are rights that each individual has, and there needs to be guidelines to make sure each person is treated fairly, even if they do not deserve such

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In Cold Blood Insanity Defense

621 Words | 3 Pages

A case can be changed due to the call of the insanity plea. Nevertheless, This may cause a possible difference to the charge of the defence. In a court case dealing with murder such as the issue with the Clutter family, the Insanity plea was brought into thought to test if Perry and Dick were mentally stable during that time. By definition, the insanity plea is an argument stating the defense was not responsible for their actions due to a psychiatric disease at the time of the act, consequently, making him/her unaware of the occurring actions moreover the later consequences. In the book, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the main characters Perry and Dick killed the Clutter family committing the crime of the century.

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Use Of The Insanity Plea By Andrea Yates

2597 Words | 11 Pages

During my true crime podcast era, I came across Andrea Yates. Yates was a mother who killed her five young children by drowning them in a bathtub. While listening to this case, it was revealed that the insanity plea, or also known as the insanity defense, was used. It got me thinking about how the plea works and how people would allow this outcome over a jail sentence. The insanity plea is a tough topic to tackle in the world of criminal law.

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Albert Fish Case Essay

1003 Words | 5 Pages

The American legal system is complex and ever changing it requires several years to grasp, over so many years there have been many different legal strategies tried and implemented. When accused of a crime there is a number of defenses that can be used in order to claim your innocence or be used to try and receive a lighter sentence. In the case of Albert Fish, the defendant had already confessed to the crime he was accused of, however, his lawyers tried to prove him to be legally insane and as a result stay off the death penalty. Albert Fish case was truly strange and stunned everyone who became aware of the case especially since the murders occurred in the 1924 - 1934 which was a time where children were often unsupervised and the community

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Interprettive Essay: The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

728 Words | 3 Pages

This is because the 8th amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Giving someone who has mental disease the death penalty would be seen as a cruel and unusual punishment. Some may argue that even though the killer did murder the man, he did not show any empathy for what he did. This can be proven otherwise because of the fact that someone under the influence of mental disease may not always be able to control their actions. In similar cases such as the Walton vs. Virginia, and Eley vs. Ohio, the same practice was used.

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The Theme Of Death In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

1445 Words | 6 Pages

The court dismisses the plea quickly because “the justice system ignores psychosocial complexities and histories in favor of black and white definitions of right and wrong” (Myers). The justice system in this time very rarely accepted pleas of insanity or mental illness. Capote wrote that “after an hour’s conversation with the defendants, the doctor rule[d] out that neither man

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Arguments Against Insanity Defense

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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