The defense team of Albert Fish tried to proclaim him insane and save him the capital punishment. In general, however, a successful insanity defense technique for a serial killer is not common, especially when it comes to such a big number of extremely heinous crimes committed against children. Fish was diagnosed with paranoid psychosis, yet found sane and responsible for his actions, thus sent to the electric chair (Hasselt & Hersen, 2013). The psychiatric testimony that was used in the prosecution did not serve Fish well, because of his undetected prior actions (Chermark & Bailey, 2016). Pursuant of the cognitive theory, criminalists focused on the mental processes of the individual, and the way he perceived the world around him, to prosecute
