...Beneficial Defense In keeping the insanity defense, as it stands, the benefits outweigh the problems. This defense fixes problems with the mentally insane and leads to curing more of the mentally ill. Viewing the defense as a benefit seems to fit if it helps more people than it harms, although other views have been brought against it opposing the defense. The jurisdictions that have kept the defense see it rarely and take it as a claim of innocence. The innocent people who have severe mental illness might finally have an opportunity to become viable members of society through rehabilitation. This plea may also shed light on the severity and seriousness that mental illness plays in our communities as these individuals are of great...
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...Insanity Defense Before talking about insanity defense, I will define the world insanity first, which is something that people do to protect himself or herself without realizing the gravity or without realizing what he/she does when the action happens. It’s like a senseless action or mistake. Therefore, I did a little research about the “insanity defense”. Beside of my research I found that “the insanity defense in criminal term is where the defendant claims they are not responsible for their actions due to mental health problems”. Do they have to believe what the defendant says about that he/she is or was insane? I say no they have to make a test to show his/her insanity. As I say the law should brings something that show people or to prove the insanity of the defendant. Nonetheless the American law has come out with something that can prove or indentify the insanity of defendant like: M’Naghten Rule, the model penal code etc… In Maryland they uses model penal code to show if the defendant is was insane at the time he did the action. First the all the test of M’Naghten is “a test applied to determine whether a person accused of a crime was sane at the time of its commission and, therefore, criminal responsible for the wrongdoing.” (Queen v. M'Naghten, 8 Eng. Rep. 718 [1843]). The next test is the model penal code is the test that shows people that a defendant is not responsible for his/her act at the time he/she did the murder or something. Beside of my research I found...
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...inaccurate perception of the Insanity Defense. Even though, the public does acknowledge that there is a need for the insanity defense to exist, but it is “considered a loophole , that allows too many guilty people to go free.” (Silver, Cirincione, & Steadman, 1994) The method for this article is study of a sample that was taken among different counties in eight states, to meet the criteria, they wanted to obtain two thirds of all the insanity acquittals in each state. There was a total of forty-nine counties that was looked at and they used defendants that entered an insanity plea anytime during their defense between 1976 and 1985. (Silver, Cirincione, & Steadman, 1994). Things that was took into consideration was the demographic characteristics of the defendant, such as arrest, charge, victim characteristics, verdict and sentence...
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...Insanity is defined as “The principal legal doctrine permitting consideration of mental abnormality in assessing criminal liability. Those acquitted of criminal charges as Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity are typically required to spend an indeterminate period of treatment in a secure mental health facility until they are no longer dangerous to self or others”.(Greene & Heilbrun). Each state carries its own statutes on how to deal with the insanity defense. In the state of California the follow the M’Naghten rule. The M’Naghten rule was established in 1843 after an Englishman by the name of Daniel M’Naghten murdered the secretary of the British prime minister. M’Naghten suffered from delusions that made him believe that he was being stalked and plotted against. He was charged with murder and plead not guilty by reason of insanity. He got off under his insanity plea, but ended up in a mental institution for the remainder of his life. This infuriated some people so Queen Victoria imposed the M’Naghten rule as a stricter guideline (or test) for the insanity defense. This rule implies that a person that commits a crime did not understand the difference between right and wrong at the time the crime had taken place. It must be proved by the defense that the person on trial has some sort of “disease of the mind” that would cause them to commit the crimes they have. It excuses the behavior that took place in the event that insanity can be proved. Because the M’Naghten rule is still...
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...The Insanity Defense The insanity defense refers to that branch of the concept of insanity which defines the extent to which men accused of crimes may be relieved of criminal responsibility by virtue of mental disease. The terms of such a defense are to be found in the instructions presented by the trial judge to the jury at the close of a case. These instructions can be drawn from any of several rules used in the determination of mental illness. The final determination of mental illness rests solely on the jury who uses information drawn from the testimony of "expert" witnesses, usually professionals in the field of psychology. The net result of such a determination places an individual accordingly, be it placement in a mental facility, incarceration, or outright release. Due to these aforementioned factors, there are several problems raised by the existence of the insanity defense. Problems such as the actual possibility of determining mental illness, justifiable placement of judged "mentally ill" offenders, and the overall usefulness of such a defense. In all, I believe that these problems, as well as others which will be mentioned later, lead us to the conclusion that the insanity defense is useless and should be abolished entirely. Insanity is a legal, not a medical definition. Therefore, mental illness and insanity are not synonymous: only some mental illness constitutes insanity. Insanity, however, includes not only mental illness but also mental deficiencies. Due to...
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...Misrepresentation The vast majority of attorneys do not double as doctors, leaving medicine a grey area among courtroom officials. How can a mentally ill person receive the correct representation if the attorney defending them lacks understanding? Books like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 are attorneys and judges only source of direct knowledge of any mental deficits without expert testimonies. The DSM-5 provides criteria for a diagnosis but accepts and acknowledges that there may be unpredictable circumstances (Davis, 2016). A poll taken among 166 prosecutors and 118 defense attorneys, from various cities and counties, shows that 75% of these court room professionals agree the burden of proving mental defect is on the defense attorney...
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...the Law Stop For years the insanity defense has turned into a difficult defense system in the court of law. The exact law changes from state to state, but the main idea remains the same. The insanity defense could apply and be used on an individual who is considered legally insane. The individual must have a severe mental disease or defect, their lawyer must prove that they were at the time of the crime. We need to abolish the insanity plea and make the death penalty the law of the land again. An individual accused of a crime can pled guilty that they committed the crime, or argue that they are not responsible for it because of a mental illness. “Not guilty by reason of insanity.” There’s an important distinction between pleading guilty by reason of insanity and diminished capacity. Diminished capacity is pleading to a lesser crime. Pleading insanity is a full defense to a crime, it’s equivalent to pleading “not guilty.” The insanity defense is a compromise on part of society and the law. Society believes that criminals should be punished for the crimes they committed and society believe that people who are ill should receive treatment for their illness. When we talk about the insanity defense, we go to the M'Naghten rule. The M'Naghten rule is the required test that must be given before the jury can decide whether the individual on trial knew that he or she could not tell right from wrong. This is the first famous legal test for insanity. In 1843, Englishman Daniel M’Naghten...
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...forensic psychology is to break it down into its subspecialties and describe where psychological knowledge can be applied. There are five subspecialties of forensic psychology, namely police psychology, psychology of crime and delinquency, victimology and victim services, legal psychology and correctional psychology. I will discuss legal psychology and correctional psychology. · Legal psychology Legal psychology is the study of human behavior relevant to the law. This subspecialty of forensic psychology consists of those theories that describe, explain and predict human behavior by reference to the law. Bartol & Bartol (2012) described that early in a case when attorneys are preparing for a trial and gathering information psychologist can be called in to testify. Main roles of a forensic psychologist in the USA includes, acting as a consultant to law enforcement, acting as trial consultants (jury selection, case preparation and pre-trial publicity), presenting psychology to appeal courts, doing forensic assessment and acting as an expert witness (insanity defense, competence to stand trial, sentencing, eyewitness identification and child custody etc.) Expert witness as a role in legal psychologist A major role for forensic psychologist is to serve as an expert witness in both the criminal and civil court. They are more commonly involve at the pretrial and post-trial proceedings, but may also serve as an expert witness at trial (Bartol & Bartol, 2012:151). Genis (2008) defines...
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...expert witnesses, psychology has proven itself to be extremely helpful in the court of law, especially when dealing with certain cases. A case in which these two fields come together is when dealing with mental illnesses, where the jury expects to be educated on the mental health of an offender at the time of crime. Mental illness, in the broadest of terms, is made up of disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior processes. Thus, it is a mental health condition that can include disorders such as depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, eating disorder and schizophrenia (Chavers, 2010, p. 20). Controversies between psychology and the law begin to appear with more severe mental disorders that can lead to crimes demanding...
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...Insanity is Insane Picture this: I just went to a liquor store, stole some liquor, shot the cashier, drove off drinking and driving, hit 20 people killing 7 and injuring 13 but that’s only because I’m insane. In court, they will do a series of test that proves I am insane. I will plead guilty of insanity and go to an institution where a close eye will be put on me. In 2014, a group study discovered that of all court cases, the insanity defense had be used in 1% of cases. In addition, the success rate of those cases is only about 26% (Apecsec). Let’s think about the word insanity, it translate to madness or mentally ill. Another word to check out is crazy, it translated to mean aggressively wild. Now that fine line is what is harder to determine....
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...others. He said that God told him to do it. The doctors said that he suffered from a religious psychosis (Rawlins). Some people seem to get away with these kinds of heinous crimes because of insanity and others, who really have mental problems, get locked away in prison and forgotten about. The definition of insanity is “the mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct his/her affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior” (Insanity). In other words, a person may live in a fantasy world and believe that things are going on around them that really are not. Also, a person may not be able to control their urges. For instance, a person may get the urge to flip someone the middle finger that cuts them off in traffic. This would be an uncontrollable impulsive behavior. Many serial killers use this line of defense as a strategy to get put into a mental hospital rather than prison. Mental hospitals give prisoners less rules and more freedoms than do Pierce 2 prisons. Some killers though, are truly insane. There is a fine line, as well as a good defense attorney, as to which side you fall on, sane or insane. Jeffrey Dahmer committed at least seventeen murders and entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea but was found guilty of fifteen murders and found to be sane. One might ask how Dahmer can be sane after butchering so many young men and even keeping parts of their bodies in his...
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...Andrea Yates admitted to pre meditation, as she wanted to go along with murdering her children the day prior to the murder. She was in defense stating that she was possessed by a demon and that she had triple six on her scalp. She requested for her head to be shaved so that the doctors could see this mark of the...
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...Case Study 1: Understanding the Court System By: Kara Napolitan Sociology 205 Professor Needleman-Newman 7/18/15 Andrea Yates, at just 37 years old, snapped and drowned all five of her precious young kids in the bathtub in what the law is calling a mental breakdown. On July 2nd, 1964 Andrea (Kennedy) Yates was born in Houston, Texas. She graduated from high school, where she was her class valedictorian, captain of the swim team, and an officer in the National Honor Society. She then went off into a 2 year pre-nursing program at the University of Houston, and then in 1986 graduated from the nursing program at the University Of Texas- School Of Nursing. Andrea was an R.N. (registered nurse) at the Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas from 1986-1994. (Biography.com, 2015)(Montaldo, 2015). Shortly before her leave from nursing, she met and married Rusty Yates (at the age of 25). Prior to her marriage she was healing from a broken relationship. They had met at the apartment complex they both lived in and eventually started dating. Rusty was a disciple of the devout teaching of preacher Michael Woroniecki. That led to them moving in together, where they devoted their time to religious studies. On April 17, 1993 they would become wed. They vowed they would have as many children as god would bless them with. But the Woronieckis condemned the Yates for their apparent hypocritical Christian lifestyle, and said that their children would be doomed to hell because of...
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...reserved. Course Description This is an introductory course in the study of criminal law, general legal principles, and how the criminal law functions in and affects modern society. This course highlights a variety of key topics, including the concept of crime and the development of criminal law, defenses to criminal charges, and a number of specific types of crimes, including personal crimes, property crimes, public order crimes, and offenses against public morality. Legal issues affecting punishment will also be discussed, as will ways the criminal law impacts victims of crime. Policies Faculty and students will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Champion, D. J. (2009). Leading U.S. Supreme Court cases in criminal justice: Briefs and key terms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Lippman, M. (2010). Contemporary criminal law: Concepts, cases, and controversies. (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications...
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...reactions towards the insane criminal. People base their judgement of the criminal and the insane on their representations in the media, which are usually based on stereotypes. Whether insanity is a prerequisite quality for being a criminal or criminality is a manifestation of insanity, there is a definite link between the two, that has been strengthened by the media’s portrayal of the insane criminal. Michel Foucault discusses people’s tendencies to classify people as “normal” or “abnormal” (Faubion 1994). “Abnormal” refers to anyone who deviates from the norm and as a result, we treat the criminal and the insane in a similar manner: We remove them from society in order to give ourselves peace of mind, yet this treatment is not a new phenomenon. For centuries, society has attempted to marginalise both the criminal and the insane. In Madness and Civilization: a History of Insanity in the Age of Reason (1965) Foucault describes this classification as a means to exclude certain types of people from society, by placing them in prisons or institutions. They are taken out of the social order and locked away, to present a “safer” world for those who consider themselves “normal”. We classify the criminal and the insane as “abnormal” without truly understanding the underlying issues of criminality and insanity. This begs the question of what the criminal and the insane actually have in common? Foucault states that criminals are defined in terms of three different discourses: medical...
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