Mental Illness and the Insanity Defense
Introduction
The criminal justice system works by attempting to dispense justice in all instances where the law has been broken. The penal code is structured in a manner that permits it to punish according to the magnitude of the transgression in question. However, not everyone, even those who admit to committing crimes, accepts their punitive measures gracefully. They continuously attempt to avoid the penalties associated with their deeds. Besides, some complexities arise when trying to convict some perpetrators of crime owing to some reasons. In the U.S., for instance, mental illness and insanity often make it difficult for the wheels of justice to grind, as they should. Mental disease and insanity defense are functional in criminal cases by persons accused of various criminal offenses. The mental illness and insanity feature in the criminal justice system in two different ways.
Firstly, they can come up with genuine cases in which a perpetrator of a crime is truly insane or mentally …show more content…
In her definition, she considered someone insane as one who was deprived of their understanding capability and memory, such that they did not know what they were doing anymore. The rule was strict in arguing that the insane condition, as termed, was something comparable to, infancy, wild beast, or a brute state of mind (Robin, 2009).
The M 'Naghten Rule
The rule was a refined version of Wild Beast Rule. It had three criteria that had to be met for one to be considered insane. First, there had to be mental illness. Equally, the accused had to be scientifically determined to be suffering from a mental illness. Secondly, the accused had to be committed to lack the capacity to identify or know the quality of their actions. Finally, the accused had to be determined to have been unable to comprehend the morality of their deed based on right or wrong.
The Durham
Introduction
The criminal justice system works by attempting to dispense justice in all instances where the law has been broken. The penal code is structured in a manner that permits it to punish according to the magnitude of the transgression in question. However, not everyone, even those who admit to committing crimes, accepts their punitive measures gracefully. They continuously attempt to avoid the penalties associated with their deeds. Besides, some complexities arise when trying to convict some perpetrators of crime owing to some reasons. In the U.S., for instance, mental illness and insanity often make it difficult for the wheels of justice to grind, as they should. Mental disease and insanity defense are functional in criminal cases by persons accused of various criminal offenses. The mental illness and insanity feature in the criminal justice system in two different ways.
Firstly, they can come up with genuine cases in which a perpetrator of a crime is truly insane or mentally …show more content…
In her definition, she considered someone insane as one who was deprived of their understanding capability and memory, such that they did not know what they were doing anymore. The rule was strict in arguing that the insane condition, as termed, was something comparable to, infancy, wild beast, or a brute state of mind (Robin, 2009).
The M 'Naghten Rule
The rule was a refined version of Wild Beast Rule. It had three criteria that had to be met for one to be considered insane. First, there had to be mental illness. Equally, the accused had to be scientifically determined to be suffering from a mental illness. Secondly, the accused had to be committed to lack the capacity to identify or know the quality of their actions. Finally, the accused had to be determined to have been unable to comprehend the morality of their deed based on right or wrong.
The Durham