Preview

Criminal Trials: What Is The Insanity Defense?

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
351 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Criminal Trials: What Is The Insanity Defense?
Insanity Defense
In criminal trials, the insanity defense is the claim that the defendant is not responsible for his or her actions due to mental health problems. Any mental illness could serve the basis for an insanity defense, excluding conditions that have antisocial behaviors as their primary characteristic and appear to have no physiological basis. Overall I believe that if someone has a real mental illness and it made him or her commit their crime, they should not go to prison. I feel that the insanity defense should be used as a viable defense.
The reason the insanity plea should be a viable defense is that mentally insane people should not be punished for crimes they didn’t know they were committing. People cannot help being mentally

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Insanity Defense

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The insanity defense is one of the several legal questions that might be raised in a criminal case. This type of defense in a criminal case focuses on the defendant’s cognitive and mental state at the time of the offense. Due to this speculation, the questions focuses on whether the defendant is criminally responsible for his or her behavior due to the mental state at the time of the offense (Hugaboom, 2002). Also, additional questions are required to determine psychological evidence might also be included in the case. The psychological issues will include the defendant’s competency to stand trial, the mental conditions that are relevant in consideration of the sentencing, and competency to waive rights. According to Hugaboom (2002), insanity…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This means that the guilty individual receives the fairest possible sentence. A comparison to another insanity defense used, was the case of the Esposita brothers who had clearly faked being insane to get out of a death sentence. The Esposita brothers set a plan to gain money through robbery and were well equipped to take lives if anyone stood in the way. Both brothers were charged for murder of police officers and citizens. During their court trial, the Esposita brothers pretended to show signs of insanity by speaking in gibberish and banging their heads against the table. The jury was not convinced due to lack of evidence showing past history of insanity and had sentenced them to death by electrocution in 1942. This is one of many cases where a criminal had attempted to get out of a deserving consequence by using the insanity defense. Although it is rarely the case, some criminals convince the judge that they truly are insane when in fact, they were simply successful in fooling the judge. In comparison to the case of Dennis Pozniak who clearly was insane, it was determined that there was no benefit to the actions performed by Dennis and it was simply a spontaneous event that was brought due to an insane state of mind. Is it fair for an individual to get out of their deserved consequence simply because they convinced the judge that they are insane? I believe that unless the…

    • 1368 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The insanity defense is not covered as its own constitutional right, although it faults under the due process clause in the 5th and 14th amendments. The states define their own elements for what constitutes insanity, using the common law as a guideline. Mens rea—Latin for the “guilty mind” — is one of the necessary elements for insanity. If found incompetent, the person is usually charged to…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Explain how a determinist view of free will versus a libertarianism view of free will changes the argument for the insanity defense, and capital punishment.…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eddie Routh Case Study

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The insanity defense is only raised in 1% of cases and then only successful 25% of the time it is used; although its rarity, the legal court has very detailed rules. Most rules describe not guilty by reason of insanity as not being aware of what you were doing in that exact moment. Adam Banner suggests that the Eddie Routh case had an accurate ruling of guilty because of his claim that, “...the disposition is ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’. It is not ‘not guilty by reason of mental illness’,”. Only Mental Health America would disagree, stating, “The Court has indicated that states may be required to provide at least some minimal defense based on mental illness,”. Coincidently, these changes have not been made thus…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    According to Frontline, it is used in “less than 1 percent of felony cases, and is successful in only a fraction of those” (Insanity defense faqs). Less than one percent, that’s how many times the insanity defense is used. According to the National Institute of Corrections, “In a 2006 Special Report, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) estimated that 705,600 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in State prisons, 78,800 in Federal prisons and 479,900 in local jails” (Mentally ill persons). Look at those numbers. The number of mentally ill adults incarcerated in state, federal and local prisons or jails is a staggering one million two hundred sixty four thousand three hundred mentally ill, that is 1,264,300 incarcerated in the United States. Why then, is the percentage less than1% when it comes to those who use the insanity defense during court? The Sentencing Project says that there are “2.2 million people currently in the nation's prisons or jails” (Incarceration). According to the numbers, the mentally ill make up more than 1% of those incarcerated. In fact, the mentally ill in the prison system is at 57% of those in the entire prison system. How is it that 57% of inmates in prison are mentally ill, but only 1% use the insanity defense? What is wrong with the insanity defense then? For starters, it is difficult to prove and the burden of proof lies on the…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The insanity defense should be allowed for those with a mental illness when they commit a crime since they are not in control of their actions. “If a person really does have mental incapacity, and it will be considered that his condition has caused him to commit a capital crime, which means the defense could save his life. Put in mind that a capital crime carries a punishment of eventual death. However, being found not guilty because of insanity means that a capital punishment is out of the question. It could mean that the accused would just be housed at a professional mental health treatment center. Though it might not be jail, still it gets him off the streets,” (12 Profound Pros and Cons of the Insanity Defense [Web log post]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16,…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The author of this paper argues several reasons why the insanity plea should be changed or either eliminated. The reasons are considered and supported by evidence. The conclusion states that insanity should be altered or eliminated for the safety and well being of society.…

    • 1668 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When I try to reason how people would interpret the insanity defense, it reminds me of the common misconceptions that juror's have of the defense itself. In the textbook it examines the various insanity defenses and the courts perception of the defenses, while in the video, Lionel tries to examine peoples reactions to the insanity defense. In the textbook while it went to how the defense's many interpretations have effected case outcomes, Lionel's video tries to clarify that how average Americans cant handle the horrors they see when looking at the crime scene photo's and then trying to decide that the defendant could be considered for a insanity defense.…

    • 109 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Crimes are committed everyday, by many different people all over the world. Crime is something that seems impossible to defeat, with some crimes more magnificent than others. These crimes are all inexcusable and those people who commit crimes should be punished. The punishment should fit the crime, meaning that, if you do something extreme, like murder someone, you should not be allowed to defend yourself by reasoning of insanity. No crime, especially a murder should go uncharged which is why the insanity plea should be abolished. It allows for the "mentally insane" people to go virtually unpunished for their crime. For hundreds of years civilized courts have recognized that, when a person who is mentally unstable is accused of a crime, it is a special circumstance and they must be deal with in a different manner than a sane person would.…

    • 1076 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Finally, the insanity plea should not be allowed is because the ability to know if a criminal is insane at the time of the crime is near impossible without creditable witnesses.…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the many issues that trouble the American Justice System today is that of the insanity defense. This defense has been brought in front of courts for years and has caused massive debate. The insanity defense plays a powerful role in our society which begs for justice. However some look upon it as a god sent, while other feel it is the enemy. ?The insanity defense is rooted in a basic principle of justice: that it is unfair to hold persons responsible for their actions when they don?t know, or cant control, what they are doing? (Worth 16), but is it true that people really don?t ?know? what they are doing; and if so should they still be punished for it? Many who share negative feelings towards the insanity defense believe that it is not a defense in the victims case but a defense to aid the perpetrator.…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Insanity Defense

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is a defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to an episodic or persistent psychiatric disease at the time of the criminal act. The…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Criminal Defense

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Disease of the mind”, is any illness, disorder, or abnormal condition which impairs the human mind and its functioning. It excludes temporary conditions of alcohol, drugs, hysteria or concussion. People use this as an excuse to criminal liability because mental illness is covered under section 16 of the Criminal Code. The insanity defense prevents a mentally-incapacitated person from being criminally punished. In order to plea insanity, the courts provide a variety of legal test to help determine the mental state of the offender. The most used test is the M’Naghten rule; which states that an offender is insane if mental illness prevents them from knowing the difference between right and wrong. Another test that states like to use is the “irresistible impulse” test. This test states that “If the defendant is suffering from a mental disease that prevents control of personal conduct, he or she may be adjudged not guilty by reason of insanity, even if he or she knows the difference between right and wrong.” Pleading insanity is by no means a “get out of jail free” card. Most offenders that are found not guilty because of insanity are sent to a mental health institution. They are required to be there for a long period of time, most spend longer in the institution than they would have spent in prison if they had been found…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Insanity in a Sane World

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Holden Caulfield is an insane person in a sane world. What is insanity? Insanity is when you’re in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior or social interaction. This state is mental illness. Insanity is when you do things in deranged or outrageous ways that could frighten people, or make people feel uncomfortable when around you. It’s when you do things out of the ordinary; yet feel as if they are ordinary. Insanity could come about when you’re depressed, or after a traumatic event, and sometimes even by keeping all your feelings bottled up inside of yourself. Sane people are sensible, reliable, well-adjusted and practice sound judgment. It’s behavior that is expected in a society. By these definitions Holden Caulfield is an insane person in a sane world due to his inability to deal with the real world, his obsession with irrelevant details, and his overly judgmental and critical nature. Holden Caulfield is from the book The Catcher and the Rye. By J.D Salinger. Holden Caulfield is the protagonist in the novel and the narrator of the novel.…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays