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Insanity Plea

 

            Today in our criminal justice system, when someone commits a crime they may use insanity as a defense. This is called an insanity plea. In theory this seems somewhat fair if that person is insane, but in reality how so we truly know if that individual is insane. It is difficult to determine if someone is telling the truth about their mental state. .
             In our justice system a lot depends on how well a person is defended. If a defense attorney sees no serious signs of mental illness, he will not attempt to defend his client in this fashion. When using the insanity plea an attorney must project what his client was or was not thinking at the time of the crime. That is a major reason why this defense does not work. We can never be truly certain that what you see in court is the real thing.
             As much as I feel that this defense is flawed, I realize that there are times when defenses legitimate. Truly mentally ill criminals need special help compared to regular criminals. If we just stick them into general prisons we are shooting ourselves in the foot. They will not get the right services that they need. In the end, anyone that commits a crime has to do the time. We need to be careful how we hand out sentences, but to be fair, we have to allow an insanity defense to be submitted.
            


Essays Related to Insanity Plea

1. Insanity Plea

... incarceration, or outright release. Due to these previously mentioned 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. The insanity plea is a plea in which the defendant claims innocent due to a mental problem at the time ... . Insanity is a mental disorder that is so serious that it can prevent people from making rational decisions. The insane can make decisions, but not ... jail?...

  • Word Count: 1217
  • Approx Pages: 5
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  • Grade Level: High School

2. Defence in English Law: Insanity

... minister himself but killed the secretary instead. Medical witnesses testified that he was insane. He was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. A defence of insanity must follow the M'Naghten rules; D was under such a defect of reason, from a disease of the mind, as to not know ... H (1997) D charged with driving with excess alcohol- (strict liability). Magistrates acquitted him on the grounds that he was suffering from depression, a plea of insanity. The divisional courts held that the magistrates should have convicted. Defect of reason It is not enough that D fails to use his p...

  • Word Count: 2264
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Insanity Defense

... to the mental state of the defendant at the time at which the crime was committed. The defendant must concede guilt when the decision to enter the insanity plea is made. He/She is saying, "Yes, I committed this act, but I was so mentally impaired at the time as to not know right from wrong or what I was doing." The ... mental defect in no way influenced the criminal action. A compulsive hand washer cannot use that illness as an excuse for shooting twelve people from a clock tower. In my opinion, the insanity plea is often misused by individuals, usually intelligent and wealthy, in orde...

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4. Insanity Defense

... of defense we have. Who is to say if the defendant was insane at the time of the crime? The victim, witness, or the testimony of "expert" witness? People who plea insanity to get out of their own actions should be punished just as bad as the crime they committed or even worse in some cases. Who is to say the person ... is insane or not though so when they plea the "Insanity Defense" they could be insane or they could be trying to get out of murder or just a robbery so you have to trust your instinct I think a give them the ... could be scientifically established. Many dangerous persons...

  • Word Count: 1764
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Insanity Plea

... this, Freeman was scheduled a court date for June 1, 1846 at the Auburn Courthouse. On this day, he entered the plea of insanity. Freeman claims that the cause of his insanity is to be the blame of his first year in prison where he was beaten repetitively while trying to attack someone else. ... agony of spending their life in prison. Imagine experiencing all this and finding out that the criminal has now pleaded insanity and that the court may agree with the plea. The criminal will then reside in this world without torment. Better yet, not only do they get to live, ... in behavior. I...

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  • Approx Pages: 6
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6. WHAT CONSTITUTES THE VERDICT OF INSANITY?

... examine the individual and testify in court, the final decision is a legal one, made by the courts based on the legal proceeding. If the plea of insanity is made, the courts determines that a reasonable basis exists to support the plea, then the courts may commit the defendant to a secure mental health facility under the Department of Health Services, or a secure county mental evaluation ... health evaluation and treatment. It is important to remember that in court, the concept insanity is legal rather than psychological. This is because the word "insanity" may vary in severity and ment...

  • Word Count: 613
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Insanity Deffense

... the sixteenth century, however, the jury gained the power to enter a "Special Verdict" if they felt the case warranted. By the seventeenth century, the insanity defense was firmly in place, thus this plea was commonly accepted. The insanity defense reflects a compromise on the part of society and the law. On the one hand, society believes that criminals should be punished for their crimes ... for, suffer the worst of fates due to their lack of lucidity to defend them. One such obvious case is the infamous "Twinkie Defense". This is one example of the insanity plea gone amok where the de...

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8. The Insanity Defense MLA

... clear and presenting evidence. The defendant must prove that the accuser was not capable of willfully committing the crime. In a court, the concept of insanity is legal matter rather than psychological matter. The insanity plea is used in situations where the defendant is judged to be incapable of knowing right from wrong because of a mental disorder or defect. Hence, psychologists examine individuals and ... matter how many crime bills are passed, how many police officers are hired, and jail cells are built, if the public continues to let violent criminals escape punishment by claiming...

  • Word Count: 1260
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9. The Concepts Of The Insanity Defense

... definition of the crime. Such cases can be seen when one is talking about crimes of passion that is often mistaken for temporary insanity. Crimes of passions are crimes primarily motivated by emotions. The emotions are so extreme that they cloud judgment and focus. The person ... touch with reality but is somewhat imbalanced. This is opposed to temporary insanity in which the person is driven primarily by a conditioned nature, where he is not in touch with reality. I believe that the insanity plea since 1984 when the federal government changed its regulations is valid and ... punished, de...

  • Word Count: 1260
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

10. Policy Essay on the Insanity Defense

... with an IQ of 70 (People v. Harris). Caffese used Harris' extensive hospitalization history, as well as much more crucial evidence to support her plea for the insanity defense. She described her client as "a devout woman and a good mother, who kept her children well-clothed and fed and who &apos ... that Harris had a "clear understanding of the permanence of death." Part II With all the various different definitions for "legal insanity," it can be very difficult for individuals to understand exactly what it means to be deemed legally insane, and even harder to determine if ... to appreci...

  • Word Count: 2507
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate