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What is an Insanity Defense ?
During a criminal trial, if the
accused or the defendant tries to prove that the accused was
insane when the crime was committed, it is termed as insanity
defense. The defending lawyers argue that since the charged was
not in the right frame of mind he or she should not be held
criminally liable. Of course it must be noted that the argument
of ‘insane’ used is such a context is different from the medical
definition of ‘mentally ill’. Also, the definition might vary
from one state to another.
In the United Sates of America the term ‘insanity defense’ is
still active; countries like Canada and Australia call it
“mental disorder defense”. Unfortunately some countries prefer
to stay away or talk about this defense primarily because it
involves “insanity”. Insanity defense is often seen in movies or
television serials, however, in real life such situations are
not very common.
The various treatments
If the accused has been found not guilty on grounds of insanity,
he or she is sent to mental institutions for psychiatric
treatment. There is no fixed time period for keeping such people
in these institutions and are kept under observation until and
unless the deciding authorities declare that they are no more a
danger. Unfortunately taking such decisions can be little
complex resulting in a situation where the person in question is
put in the institution for a much longer period of time than
they would spent behind the bars. In the year 1992, the Supreme
Court of the United States of America had passed a rule that a
person detected with such a problem could not be put in the
institution for an indefinite time; proper treatment can heal
this ailment.
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To prove that the accused cannot be
convicted due to insanity needs to be backed up by a number of
factors – namely experienced psychiatrists and their diagnosis
of some diseases like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
‘Not guilty by reason of insanity’ requires quite a bit of
research. It is important and extremely crucial to bring out the
difference between ‘competency’ and ‘criminal responsibility’.
The former implies to a situation where the suspect is able to
help the defense attorney in making a proper case, take
decisions consciously and finally deciding whether or not to
plead guilty or accept the court’s verdict. The latter on the
other hand deals with the condition to judge whether the suspect
can be lawfully accused of committing the crime.
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The
trial
In most of the countries, especially the United States of
America, an insanity defense trial case requires the diagnosis
of doctors, precisely psychiatrists, to prove whether the
defendant is insane or not. If it is agreed by both the defense
counsel and the prosecution that the person charged is indeed
insane, the normal trial procedure involving the jury members is
dissolved and a separate trial is held in front of the judge
where all the data relating to the case are presented and a
verdict is given. However, if there is a conflict between the
defense counsel and prosecution about the insanity, the jury
hears the expert testimonies presented by either sides and takes
a decision.
The
history
Insanity defense goes back to the ancient Roman and Greek
Civilizations. According to records, the first case of an
insanity defense trial was described in the year 1724. King
Edward II had declared that a person can be held ‘insane’ if
‘the mental capacity was no more than that of a Wild Beast’. In
the United Kingdom, the insane defendants had an uncertain fate
until the Criminal Lunatics Act was passed in the year 1800. Due
to this law, one James Hadfield was acquitted from a case due to
‘indefinite detention’. Charles Cogswell Doe, the Chief Justice
of New Hampshire deserves the full credit for being the pioneer
in the insanity defense in the United States of America. In the
year 1986, the Supreme Court of the US passed a law that those
diagnosed with insanity cannot be executed. The practice of
pleading not guilty on grounds of insanity became legal in the
United States once the M’Naghten Rules were passed.
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What are
the M’Naghten Rules ?
The M’Naghten Rules that was passed in the year 1843 (10C and
F200) declared that a person can be termed insane if during the
crime, he was “under” a “defect of reason, arising from a
disease of the mind” and “not to know the nature and quality of
the act he was doing, or, if he did know it, that he did not
know what he was doing was wrong.”
What do you mean by the irresistible
impulse ?
Irresistible impulse is another concept used in insanity
defense. According to this idea, the accused commits the crime
being conscious of the fact that it is illegal but is unable to
control the actions due to a mental disorder. This concept was
first used in the year 1834 in Ohio. |
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In the famous case of Lorena Bobbitt
in the year 1994, the defense counsel had argued that she acted on
an irresistible impulse and hence should not be found guilty. The
previously discussed M’Naghten Rule was found to be unsatisfactory
by a number of courts and states of the United States in the later
half of the nineteenth century and thus the ‘irresistible impulse’
argument was adopted.
What is
meant by temporary insanity ?
Temporary insanity refers to the concept which puts forward the
argument that the accused suffered from insanity at the time of the
crime but is sane at present. This test was first used in the year
1859 by the US Congressman Daniel Sickles after he had killed Philip
Barton. However, this test is not successful anymore in defending an
accused.
The famous cases of insanity defense
The famous case of Lee Boyd Malvo and John
Allen Muhammad – This duo was charged for killing of 10
people in 2002 near Washington D.C. When Malvo was arrested and
produced in the court, the defense counsel pleaded not guilty on
grounds of insanity. It also argued that Malvo was influenced by
Muhammad and hence should not be held responsible for the crime.
However, this argument was not accepted by the court and Malvo was
convictedof committing these murders in 2003.
The case of Andrea Yates –
Andrea Yates was charged of murdering her five children by drowning.
Her lawyers tried to convince the court that Andrea suffered from
insanity and hence cannot be held responsible. Inspite of the jury’s
decision of putting her for trial and eventually convicting her of
this heinous crime, Andrea was successful in winning an appeal that
the statement issued by her doctors had some errors. At present she
is being treated in a hospital in Texas, the United States.
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Article Contributed By: Sukanaya
Banerjee
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