The Insanity Defense essays

The Insanity Defense essays Equal justice for the unequal.# For these few who cannot be held accountable for there actions because of mental disability or disease this statement is surly there savuor. The ideal in a free society is that all of its members shall be equal under the law they have chosen to govern them, that they shall share the same rights and responsibilities, and that if they violate their laws they will be punished no differently than their peers, and judged according to a collective sense of justice rather than by the individuals of society. But what about the individual who does not realize he/she has committed a crime against society? The question that is raised here is not along the lines of should an individual be punished for his/her crime, but more on the matter of did the individual know that the crime, which he/she had committed, was wrong. This is where the fine line between the guilty and the legally insane is created. There has long been a strong belief that persons who commit crimes as a result of mental illness should not be held criminally responsible because they lack the criminal intent to commit the acts; this belief forms the core of the insanity defense today in the United States. The insanity defense is a plea option in which the defendant seeks acquittal for the alleged criminal offense by reason of insanity. In this paper I will discuss the history of the insanity defense and the controversy that now surrounds the issue in today s society. I will start by giving an historical perspective on the formation of the insanity defense, followed by the landmark trial of Daniel McNaughton, which established the guidelines that would set the standard for nearly a century to come in determining the sanity of the defendant. Lastly, I will discuss the current controversy in American society over the use of the insanity plea in the American criminal justice system. Throughout most of history there has be...