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 because it is difficult to define whether someone is insane. The process of proving a criminal insane should be a lot more complex than it is or has been in the past. The insanity plea, otherwise known as the insanity defense, is a type of criminal …show more content…
Then, in later years the “complete madness definition evolved into the “wild beast” test, which would run test to determine whether a person was really insane or not. Under this test, the insanity defense was available to a person who was "totally deprived of his understanding and memory so as not to know what he was doing, no more than an infant, a brute, or a wild beast" (Feigl 1995,161). As years passed the Insanity plea defense evolved and got a lot more credible and stronger. An example of how this plea has evolved is, A Biddeford man who was pulled over last year on the Maine Turnpike with an AK-47 assault rifle, several handguns and news clippings of a mass shooting in Colorado was found not guilty by reason of insanity …show more content…
Robinson, traces the development of the insanity plea, exonerating from punishment criminals judged to have been mad at the time of committing their crime (New York Times). For many years, Psychologist have been studying this theory and are still pondering whether this is a positive or a negative plea. Some may say this is neither, the insanity plea should not be a thing cause there a lot of possible consequences. For example, Equating physical illness with mental illness has the appearance of equity, but it is an equation based on a false premise that they are identical. Furthermore, it is destructive culturally, making us, as one writer terms it, a nation of victims (“Task Force Aims”). Insanity can be deceiving to the human eye, this is why people should study the criminals pleading for insanity. No one wants a criminal to get a light sentence or be let off because they took advantage of this plea. You can also tell whether someone is just out of it, for example, "When I first saw Mr. Courtois in September, he was completely unable to concentrate. When I saw him, he was delusional," LeBlanc said. "He did not demonstrate any types of skills for competency to stand trial"

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