Insanity Defense Essay

Submitted By bonniepey
Words: 887
Pages: 4
Open Document
Jane Hanna
Mr. Matlock
Criminal Law 1
September 1, 2014 Insanity Defense: Support it or Abolish it?

Should the United States of America keep or abolish the Insanity Defense? “In criminal trials, the insanity defenses are possible defenses by excuse, an affirmative defense by which defendants argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law because they were legally insane at the time of the commission of alleged crimes. A defendant attempting such a defense will often be required to undergo a mental examination beforehand. The legal definition of "insane" is, in this context, quite different from psychiatric definitions of "mentally ill". When the insanity defense is successful, the defendant is usually committed to a psychiatric hospital”.(Princeton.edu). Insanity can be faked, the “insane” people can control themselves and should know what they are doing at the moment, and also it can be used an excuse to not go to jail at the moment and go to insanity camp where they have more freedom and have a lesser of their charge. Could insanity be faked? Well that is a question that could be answered with several different conclusions. But the main answer that follows this question really well is that people are very clever and underhanded. People are clever in many different ways, people make bombs in the tiniest forms that fit under your fingernail, they rob banks within the center-meter of the second, and people can control a plane with a computer while the planes in the air. So doesn't the government of law know that people can do the simplest thing as to fake to be insane. The government of law is smart enough to know that and intelligent enough to know if someone is faking it or they are really mentally insane. “The preliminary hearing this week for James Eagan Holmes, the perennially shooter murdered 12 and injured 58 during a July 20, 2012, rampage in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, is once again raising questions about the insanity defense. I suspect that the public often doesn’t understand a key point in insanity cases. The determining factor is not whether a person has a mental disorder or even the severity of his illness. It is whether his mental illness prevented him from being able to tell the difference between right and wrong or they are just counterfeiting it” (Peteearley.com). This example is a representation about how a “perennially shooter” claims to the insanity defense, when obviously he is a repeated shooter. He is an austere criminal, he does not have any mental/insane issues and does not have an excuse of what he did. He did a crime and he needs to accept on what he did and take the charges. So can insanity be faked? Its an affirmative. Could being insane be an excuse to get a lesser of a charge? Since the insanity rule came out into a law in 1843 by the british, it has been used on 2/3 of the time in the court of law. “Not guilty by reason of insanity” means that because the person is “insane” they did not know what they were doing at the time of the crime and they shouldn't be charged with the same crime as a real felon. I utterly do not agree with this statement. The reason why I don't agree with the statement is because
Show More

Related Documents: Insanity Defense Essay

The Insanity Defense

The insanity defense is a subject many Americans know little about. The insanity defense is referred to the criminal’s state of mind at the time of the offense. The offenders mental illness lacks moral responsibility and liability for the crime committed. The clinical psychologist needs to look into the past of the offender for traces of hospitalization and history of violence. A psychologist cannot determine if an offender is clinically insane because that is the legal definition. A mentally ill…

Words 1146 - Pages 5

Insanity Defense

The Insanity Defense What is the insanity plea? What was the M’Naghten case? These are questions lawyers and judges are often asked. Most people do not understand this area of law much at all. The insanity defense is widely misunderstood because of the ways somebody is diagnosed as insane, the differences between clinically and legally insane, and the defense attornies’ arguments often do not make it clear. There are small but distinct differences between the types of insanity. First there are…

Words 775 - Pages 4

Insanity Defense

Background: Insanity defense is a tentative issue, involving emotional appeals while also needing concrete evidence to substantiate it, making it an extremely hard one to qualify. Both systems, judicial and jury, have their own pros and cons when faced with this defense. Most would argue that the insanity defense should be abolished, as measuring one's sanity is inherently challenging3; however, this plea is extremely important. It protects those who should not bear full criminal liability due to…

Words 1088 - Pages 5

Insanity Defense Paper

Insanity Defense Paper The insanity defense is a topic that seems to gain a lot of interest even though it is seldom used and only a few cases that called upon are in fact triumphant. So why is this issue so appealing to the general public taking into consideration its rarity? The answer could be a combination of highly publicized cases that use it and the public’s misunderstanding of exactly what happens when someone is found “not guilty by reason of insanity”. It is because…

Words 776 - Pages 4

Insanity: Evolving Insanity Defense Essay

In the United States, criminals are innocent until proven guilty. There are opportunities in the criminal justice system where several defenses have been build into the system that can be used to lessen a sentence or to negate guilt due to a mental state. But why do we offer such things to people who have done such harm? Criminal Law is societies contract with itself. It governs what people can and cannot do, what happens when they do break that law and what appropriate punishment fits the crime…

Words 1733 - Pages 7

The Implications of Insanity Defense Essay

The implications of Insanity Defense Tirzah Lopez Psychology -101 Joan Rafter Hudson County Community College 12/5/2013 The Insanity Defense: implications Introduction When a court of law determines that a defendant is legally insane, it does not hold the defendant responsible for his actions. This defense is possible when an individual applies for an insanity defense. This places an argument that his actions were the result of a mental…

Words 1292 - Pages 6

Insanity Defense Research Paper

Whitney Gonsalves Mrs. Dalton English Language Arts 12, Hour 5 31 October 2016 Rough Draft Is the insanity plea a valid one in criminal cases and what kind of assessment could be used to prove a person is criminally insane? The insanity defense states that a criminal is not guilty by reason of insanity. The theory is that the criminal either did not know the act was wrong or cannot control their violent actions even when they understand that what they did was wrong. This theory is also controversial…

Words 1414 - Pages 6

Insanity Defense Research Paper

the complex issue of the insanity defense, a crucial yet divisive component of criminal law, from the perspectives of both the general public and the law itself. The insanity defense has been a part of legal systems across the globe for a long time, but its consequences for justice, ethics, and mental health awareness are still up for debate. This study uses a mixed-methods approach to close the gap between public perceptions and the real details of the insanity defense as presented in recent academic…

Words 2104 - Pages 9

Leszkay Insanity Defense Summary

rules, and regulations about its legal definition of insanity(Leszkay, 2012). As a matter of fact there are some general concepts that can be used to understand what it means to be legally insane. Leszkay emphasize the importance of the insanity defense by stating “insanity defense is rarely used and has even been abolished in some states (Leszkay, 2012).” In a word, insanity is generally considered an "excuse" to committing a crime. “An excuse defense is where, even though the defendant engaged in criminal…

Words 1036 - Pages 5

Insanity Defense Research Paper

Not guilty by reason of insanity has perplexed the most qualified legal and psychiatric professionals for centuries. The insanity defense is rooted in the belief that when a person is so mentally disturbed that their irrationality or compulsion is impossible to control, it would be unfair to punish them in such an extreme condition (4). This beginning the argument of is the mental health of an individual more important than them paying for their crimes. The insanity defense has become a media sensation…

Words 597 - Pages 3