ipl-logo

Insanity Defense Pros And Cons

1468 Words6 Pages

The idea of someone being so mentally ill that he or she is unable of comprehending his or her actions and should not be held accountable for them has been a long-standing doctrine in the justice system. Since it was established in 1843, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the subject. While many people think that the insanity defense is just a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card, however, I think that the insanity defense not only assists the mentally ill , but also benefits everyone else as well. Firstly, having the insanity defense administers help to those in need of it. Secondly, the mentally ill may not be suitable for rough prison life. And lastly, the mentally ill should not be held accountable for committing something they were …show more content…

But that is not the case. In order to declare a person legally insane, that person must first go through tests to prove that they are not mentally stable. The most popular being the "The Model Penal Code", which enjoyed immediate popularity in the 1970s with legislatures and judiciaries as it was considered to be more flexible than previous tests for insanity. The other, more widely used test is the M'Naughten rule, which was established in 1843. The M'Naughten rule states that the defendant is deemed insane if he or she was incapable of knowing the nature and quality of the act that he was performing or if he or she did not know what he was doing was wrong. In the Model Penal Code test, the offender is found not guilty by reason of insanity if he or she at the time of the incident is incapable of appreciating the criminality of his conduct, or if he or she was not able to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law. In both tests, comprehensive and thorough medical evaluation is needed. Medical health professionals are also required to testify as to the defendant's condition. Moreover, the more successful bids for an insanity plea generally involve persons with past history of mental illness. Otherwise, it proves to be significantly more challenging to convince a court that the defendant is mentally ill. Thus, I think that the issue of defendants faking mental illness, or pretending to be insane is unnecessary as there are many precautions and measures put in place specifically to prevent this

Show More
Related

  • 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.

    Read More

  • Was Jeffrey Dahmer Insane

    1895 Words  | 8 Pages

    According to WGBH Education Foundation (2014), out of the court cases that plead insanity only 1% of those cases is a criminals outcome affected. Therefore, the few cases that are changed by the plea of insanity are very significant and have to meet certain standards. Jeffrey Dahmer had many mental illnesses but was not considered insane enough to add to this statistic. Jeffrey Dahmer’s case was not the most significant point in the courts understanding of mental illness because he was able to decide if an action was right or wrong, he was not considered insane, and pleading insanity did not benefit his outcome. Biography.com (2018) states that Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer who was convicted of the murders or 17 males between 1978 and 1991.

    Read More

  • Insanity Defense Reform

    92 Words  | 1 Pages

    In refers to class discussion, as a result of the M’Nagthen case, the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 (IDRA) is only use when the defendant does not understand the nature of the crime committed. Therefore, although neurosis or personality disorders qualify as a mental disease according to the DSM-5; the law has eliminated these types of disorders from being utilized in courts as a form of defense. The law has also excluded the irresistible impulse or inabilities to comply with the rules as a means of defense in the federal

    Read More

  • The Case Of Andrea Yates

    1523 Words  | 7 Pages

    “It was discovered that one psychiatrist, Park Dietz, had given testimony that turned out to be untrue. He had claimed that Yates got her idea to drown the children from an episode of Law and Order. It turned out that he had confused the plots of multiple episodes” (Andrea Yates, 2021). It was during this trial that Andrea Yates was found not guilty by the reason of insanity and was sent to a maximum-security state mental facility. The M'Naghten Rule, which states “all defendants are presumed to be sane unless they can prove that–at the time of committing the criminal act–the defendant’s state of mind caused them to (1) not know what they were doing when they committed said act, or (2) that they knew what they were doing, but did not know that it was wrong”

    Read More

  • Alex Murdaugh: The Plea Of Insanity

    1104 Words  | 5 Pages

    Plea of Insanity The plea of insanity is a defense in which the defendant cannot be held criminally responsible for a crime due to them not being in a stable mindset. In the ongoing trial of Alex Murdaugh, the question of whether or not he should claim insanity is still up for debate. But many things must still be considered before saying that he should not. Before the murder trial most people knew Alex Murdaugh as a thief and drug addict, but that is only half of the story.

    Read More

  • Insanity Defense Reform Essay

    2347 Words  | 10 Pages

    I agree that the insanity defense is morally right. There are defects of the system. However, the criminal justice system’s foundation is made up of moral integrity. As a society we have decided to excuse those who lack the moral capabilities to know right from wrong. The murkiness of the system should not automatically equate to the abolishment of the defense.

    Read More

  • 8th Amendment Capital Punishment

    1708 Words  | 7 Pages

    Most mentally ill people who are convicted on capital charges should not be executed, for three such reasons. Firstly, the executions would violate equal protection of the laws in any jurisdiction in which execution of children and people with mental illness of any kind that psychologically cannot fully comprehend what they are committing is barred. Secondly, many death sentences imposed on people with mental illness violate due process more so because their mental illness is treated by the aggravating factor, either directly or to create a separate aggravating circumstance. Thirdly, many mentally ill offenders, who are sentenced to death, will be so impaired to what is fully going on at the time of execution that they can not emotionally understand the significance of their punishment. Thus, they cannot be executed under the eighth amendment; Regarding this, the latter conclusion is required even if they are cured through some sort of treatment.

    Read More

  • Insanity Defense Essay

    1347 Words  | 6 Pages

    The whole purpose of the insanity defense is to put the defendant in rehab and asylums, not a prison. Prison has a lesser opportunity to help someone’s mental illness and state of mind. Mental Health America encourages legal changes, if they are necessary, to achieve goals for the insanity plea. Some of the goals they wish to have

    Read More

  • Is Insanity Viewed In Today's Society?

    1053 Words  | 5 Pages

    INSANITY is everywhere, and everyone experiences it in some form. I use INSANITY as a driving force in my life to push through the pain and struggles. INSANITY expresses many feelings, whether it bad or good. How is INSANITY viewed in today’s society? What are the intensities of INSANITY?

    Read More

  • Miller V. State: Insanity

    350 Words  | 2 Pages

    When it comes to the case Miller V. State, I believe that trial court refused to give the jury instructions regarding the insanity defense, which the defendant wished to have comunicated, because they wanted the jury to be able to decide imoartially. Miller was examined by three medical experts and they concluded that Miller satisfied the M'naughten insanity test when he stabbed Goring. The district court had instructed the jury to determine whether Miller was actually legally insane when he stabbed Goring. They wanted the jury to find proof of insanity at that time, and to also consider Miller's mental condition "before and after the killing to throw light on what Miller's mental condition was at the time of the killing" (Schmalleger

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

  • Mass Shootings Research Paper

    952 Words  | 4 Pages

    I agree with this statement. However, I do not solely blame the criminal for their actions due to their mental illness. Creating stricter gun laws, expanding mental health awareness

    Read More

  • Arguments Against Insanity Plea

    312 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although, just because they have a mental illness, doesn't mean that's the reason they did their crime. I believe the insanity defense could have been the best outcome for the defendant, because they would have been treated for their mental

    Read More

  • Competency To Stand Trial Study

    692 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is also concluded that approximately 61% of the schizophrenic/schizoaffective and mild mental retardation subgroup was deemed incompetent to stand trial, unemployed defendants were twice as likely to be deemed incompetent, and defendants with psychiatric disorders were eight times as likely to be deemed incompetent (Tarescavage, Anthony M., Luna Jones, Lynn, Lee, Tayla T. C., 2017). In conclusion, because of the limitations of the study, future research is necessary to expand the conclusions. First, because the study took place in a Northeast Ohio single site, the findings may not conclude the same in other parts of the United States. More research is needed in other areas to see if the findings are duplicated.

    Read More

  • Insanity Defense Essay

    634 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A man must be presumed sane and a sufficient degree of reason to be responsible for his crimes until the contrary is proved… to establish a defence of insanity it must be clearly proved that at the time of committing the act, the accused was labouring under a defect of reason from a disease of the mind as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, and if he did know it, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong” A set of rules arose from the judgement of this case, and they are still relevant today. They are as follows. “(1) A partial delusion will be no defence if the defendant still knew that his actions were against the law. (2) Every person is presumed to be sane and therefore accountable for his actions, until the contrary is

    Read More

More about Insanity Defense Pros And Cons

Open Document