ipl-logo

Research Paper On The Insanity Plea

913 Words4 Pages

Running head: THE INSANITY PLEA AND ITS USAGE 1

The Insanity Plea and its Usage in Large Scale Trials
PSYC2003 Fall 2015 (01)
Isaiah Cash
North Arkansas College THE INSANITY PLEA AND ITS USAGE 2
The Insanity Plea and its Usage in Large Scale Trials
Discussion
The insanity plea is defensive tactic used by perpetrators of violent crimes to place the blame of their actions on mental instability. In some cases, this defense is appropriate and legitimate. Other times, the plea may be used by a truly guilty party who is seeking out a lighter sentence than execution or life in prison with no parole. This tactic though, goes back farther than the recent Colorado theater shooting or even the attempted Reagan assassination. The earliest use of the insanity plea can be found in 1843 when a man named Daniel M’Naghten killed an …show more content…

A young gunman by the name of James Holmes sat in a theater of four hundred people, pretended to take a phone call, and exited the theater. Eighteen minutes later, he reentered the theater, wearing armor, a gas mask, and was equipped with a twelve gauge shotgun, an AR-15 assault rifle, and a block handgun. He threw tear gas into the crowd and opened fire, killing 12, including a six year old girl. He also injured seventy others in the attack. When his gun jammed, he calmly walked outside and surrendered to the police. In Holmes’s subsequent trial, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors believed he was simply trying to escape the death penalty by pleading insanity, while a neuropsychologist who ran tests on Holmes said that there were no signs of him faking his supposed insanity that prevented him knowing right from wrong during his

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

  • James Eagan Holmes Case

    513 Words  | 3 Pages

    All were purchased on different occasions, and different stores. Once James went into the movie theatre, he exited the facility through an exit door left it open, and then he returned with his weapons. Then he set off gas and smoke canisters, and opened fire. The police later found him next to his car, and arrested him. He did not resist arrest.

    Read More

  • James Eagan Holmes Research Paper

    319 Words  | 2 Pages

    As we all know 27 year old James Eagan Holmes opened fire in a crowded movie theater, Century 16, on July 20,2012. Holmes had over 700 rounds of ammunition with him, killing 12 and injuring 70. Not long ago, over 3 years after the shooting, on August 7th, Holmes was sentenced to 12 life sentences and 3,318 years without parole. Holmes was a former grad student.

    Read More

  • Andrea Yates Case

    950 Words  | 4 Pages

    At the 2002 trial, Yates pleaded not guilty, by using the insanity defense. The insanity defense argues that an individual should not be found guilty of a crime if they have a persistent psychiatric disease at the time the crime was committed. It was proved that Yates could tell right from wrong, so she did not meet the definition of the insanity in Texas (Walsh). The jury deliberated for almost four hours, and finally found Yates guilty. The jury rejected her insanity defense, and Yates was sentenced to life in prison.

    Read More

  • James Holmes Arguments Against The Death Penalty

    547 Words  | 3 Pages

    Witnesses at the Century Aurora 16 complex said minutes into the special midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” on July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, James Holmes had slipped through an emergency exit door of the sold-out movie theater, propped it open, and returned armed with three guns and wearing a ballistic helmet, body shields, a gas mask obscuring his face, his hair tinted orange. He tossed two hissing gas or smoke canisters and calmly walked up the aisle open firing at moviegoers, killing 12 and wounding 70. Arrested without resistance while he was standing next to his car behind the Century 16 theater shortly after the shooting and jailed without bail awaiting trial, James Holmes was described by law-enforcement officials as

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

  • James Holmes Research Paper

    1321 Words  | 6 Pages

    Danielle Amoils Psychology, Law, and Justice Track 7 April 14, 2016 James Holmes James Holmes was found guilty of killing twelve people and wounding seventy others in a mass shooting in an Aurora, Colorado theater on July 20, 2012. The incident occurred at a movie theater, while they were screening the 2012 Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. James Holmes was arrested wearing a gas mask, a “body armor,” and died his hair red to look like “the Joker,” a popular Batman villain.

    Read More

  • 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

    Read More

  • James Holmes Conspiracy Essay

    588 Words  | 3 Pages

    The James Holmes Conspiracy Introduction The James Holmes Conspiracy has brought about contradicting views from those who do not believe the word of the government and media as evident through the link https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/james-holmes-conspiracy/. There have been arguments about the condition of his mind prior to the shooting in addition to controversies on whether he was the real shooter. Many tend to believe that he was not the shooter at all while others have confidence that he was not alone in the shooting. From the assessment of these contradicting views, I draw my belief that James Holmes at the time of shooting was simply a competent, cold-blooded murderer who was fully aware of his actions. Prior to the incident, he had no criminal record whatsoever.

    Read More

  • The Colorado Theater Massacre

    801 Words  | 4 Pages

    On the night of July 20th, 2012, the Colorado Theater shooting took place. It is remembered as the most horrific mass shooting in United States history. The tragedy occurred at the Century 16 in the Aurora Town Center Mall. The shooter is James Holmes a former student of UCD. He carried a rifle, a shotgun, and two pistols, while entering from emergency exit wearing a gas mask and a bulletproof vest.

    Read More

  • Perry's Insanity In Dr. Truman Capote

    464 Words  | 2 Pages

    Insanity is an illness an individual cannot overcome and will make decisions without thinking. Lacking the further knowledge of a criminal's mental state does not endorse the fate of acquiring the death

    Read More

  • Mr. James Eagan Holmes Case Study: County Jail

    1282 Words  | 6 Pages

    Mr. James Eagan Holmes is a 30 year old male, currently housed at County Jail. The Aurora Police Department arrested Mr. Holmes on July 20, 2012 for committing the mass murder of 12 individuals and wounding 70 others, who attended a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” at the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora, Denver. Mr. Holmes is charged with Murder 1st Degree, Attempted Murder 1st Degree, Possession of an Illegal Explosive, and Sentence Enhancement for a Crime of Violence. Following his arrest, Mr. Holmes was found unfit, and transferred to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital and discharged to County Jail, where he awaits trial. Mr. Holmes’ attorney, Ms. Brady, requested a forensic evaluation to help evaluate Mr. Holmes’ mental state at the time of his alleged offense.

    Read More

  • James Holmes Case Study

    771 Words  | 4 Pages

    Holmes processed by declaring guilty for reason of insanity and the judge accepts. Defendant’s Charges The following month on August 26, 2015. A judge in Colorado sentences Holmes to twelve

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

  • 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

    Read More

More about Research Paper On The Insanity Plea

Open Document