Insanity Defense essay topics

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  • Most Important Problem With The Insanity Defense
    1,559 words
    Stop the Insanity Loop-holes have always been an important part of defense in the court of law. This has played a promising and somewhat reliable source for the accused. It is unfortunate that these loop-holes have accounted for many acquittals and hung juries. Among the variety of loop-holes used in the courts, the most common is the insanity defense. This term refers to. ".. a plea that defendants are not guilty because they lacked the mental capacity to realize that they committed a wrong or ...
  • Use Of Insanity As A Defense
    2,695 words
    When someone commits a crime, he or she may use mental illness as a defense. This is called an insanity plea or insanity defense. What the insanity defense does is try to give the alleged perpetrator a fair trial. At least in extreme cases, society agrees with this principle. The problem is where do we draw the line. Under what circumstances is a person considered insane, and when are they not The trouble with the insanity defense in recent years is the assumption that virtually all criminals ha...
  • Result Of Mental Disease
    351 words
    Ovid's metamorphoses... The claim of irresistible impulse is a defense in some jurisdictions. The irresistible impulse tests asks if, at the time the crime was committed, a mental disease or disorder prevented the defendant from controlling his or her behavior. The Durham Rule, also known as the product rule, holds that an accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect. The American Law Institute's substantial capacity test, which is ...
  • Justification Of Self Defense
    930 words
    Affirmative defenses is the answer to which a defendant gives the court in response to the crime they are charged with. There are two main types of affirmative defenses, Justifications and excuses. Justifications and excuses are answers that the defended did do the crime but they can give a wonderful and perfectly good reason why they did it and they should not be held responsible for the crime they committed. Because every case is different there is a plethora of justifications and excuses, som...
  • Legal Concepts Of Mental Illness And Insanity
    3,817 words
    Attacks on the Insanity Defence 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 illn...
  • Issue Of The Insanity Defense
    1,149 words
    What constitutes insanity Currently, legal experts are pondering over this question. More specifically though, many are questioning the issue of the insanity defense, its credibility, and whether or not it should be abolished. When one speaks of the insanity defense, the M Naughten rule comes to mind. The M Naughten rule is a required test that a jury must find that the defendant did not know the nature of the act that he or she could not tell right from wrong (Katsh, 1998). Those who believe in...
  • Felonies Use The Insanity Defense
    2,540 words
    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 savu or. 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 rat...
  • Charges Due To The Plea Of Insanity
    1,256 words
    The Insanity Plea by Wins lad and Ross: Summary The Insanity Plea is a book about the Uses & Abuses of the Insanity Defense in various cases. The book is by William J. Win slade and Judith Wilson Ross. Int his report, I will basically summarize the book and tell you different ways people have used and abused the Criminal Justice System using The Insanity Plea. I will first talk about the case of Dan White. On November 18, 1978, Preliminary reports began broadcasting news of the events in a town ...
  • Apsche's Testimony On Heidnik's Mental History
    770 words
    Another case that used insanity plea was the case of Heidnik, which happened in 1987. His lawyer was Charles Peruto, an experienced attorney with very good reputation. Heidnik was charged with rape, aggravated assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent exposure, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, simple assault, indecent assault, and murder. Heidnik first raped women, and then killed them. Later police had found the remains of Heidnik victims in his refrigerator. Chuck Peruto had his...
  • Guilty By Reason Of Insanity Plea
    980 words
    The insanity defense traces its history to an 1843 assassination attempt on British Prime Minister Robert Peel. Now, about a third of the states allow a guilty by reason of insanity plea (Witkin, 7). Fortunately, on the contrary to popular belief, only one percent of felony cases led to a ruling of not guilty by reason of insanity. When a killer is ruled not guilty by reason of insanity, they are simply turned loose to reek havoc on society as a whole, while the victims families must deal with t...
  • Punishment Through The Insanity Defense
    1,710 words
    In the world today, there are many mentally unbalanced humans, those who can t resist certain impulses due to their mental capacity. People who can t determine right from wrong or even people who cannot control their own self. Some of these people can be classified as criminals. They have done something unacceptable to society. How are these people judged Is it fair to hold them responsible and seek to punish them The courts in all civilized nations have accepted that those who are insane cannot...
  • Defense Attorneys Mad About The Insanity Defense
    1,555 words
    Mad about the Insanity Defense Today in our legal system, there are many questionable defense tactics. They are designed to protect the rights of the charged, and further the cause of justice. However, in many cases this betterment of justice has been taken too far, and thus pleas such as "Temporary insanity" are born. Indeed, as will be proven, the insanity defense in itself has been stretched nearly to its breaking point. The insanity defense will be critically examined, here, and proven in so...
  • Correct Terms Like Insanity And Mental Illness
    2,003 words
    "Insanity is defined as a mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or conforming to social standards". (Insanity, pg. 1) It is used in court to state that the defendant was not aware of what he / she was doing at the time of the crime, due to mental illnesses. But insanity is a legal, not a medical, definition. There is a difference between mental illness and going insane. Many problems are raised by the existence of the insanity defense. For exa...

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