We as citizens of the United States share the same rights and obey the same laws. Every individual must take full responsibility if these laws are violated. It is our duty to know wrong from right in accordance with the law. However, some individuals do not have the ability to realize the wrongfulness of their actions. For example, should someone with a mental disability be punished for committing a crime? “The insanity defense refers to that branch of the concept of insanity which defines the extent to which men accused of crime may be relieved of criminal responsibilities by virtue of mental disease.” (Goldstein 9) For an act to be considered an act of insanity, a person’s mental disease must impair their ability to not realize that the
…show more content…
They never noticed anything to be mentally wrong about him. However, there is medical evidence that he suffered from paranoid delusions for many years. As he got older, his condition became worse. One day he told his father that spies were following him every day. He said that they would throw straws in his face and laugh at him. A couple months before the crime, McNaughton was evicted from his house after people complained about hearing his moans and mutters. He complained about the spies following him so began to sleep outside. Three physicians that examined him testified during the trail and concluded that McNaughton was insane. The court agreed to declare Daniel McNaughton was not guilty by reason of insanity and he was then admitted to an insane asylum.” His original diagnosis was “monomania.” Today he would probably be classified as a paranoid schizophrenic.” (Maeder 34) After the trial of Daniel McNaughton, the McNaughton rule was made. This rule is used by the courts of thirty states to define insanity. The McNaughton rule tells jurors that “every man is to be presumed to be sane, and that to establish a defense on the ground of insanity, it must be clearly proven that, at the time of the committing of the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing what was wrong.” (Goldstein
They never noticed anything to be mentally wrong about him. However, there is medical evidence that he suffered from paranoid delusions for many years. As he got older, his condition became worse. One day he told his father that spies were following him every day. He said that they would throw straws in his face and laugh at him. A couple months before the crime, McNaughton was evicted from his house after people complained about hearing his moans and mutters. He complained about the spies following him so began to sleep outside. Three physicians that examined him testified during the trail and concluded that McNaughton was insane. The court agreed to declare Daniel McNaughton was not guilty by reason of insanity and he was then admitted to an insane asylum.” His original diagnosis was “monomania.” Today he would probably be classified as a paranoid schizophrenic.” (Maeder 34) After the trial of Daniel McNaughton, the McNaughton rule was made. This rule is used by the courts of thirty states to define insanity. The McNaughton rule tells jurors that “every man is to be presumed to be sane, and that to establish a defense on the ground of insanity, it must be clearly proven that, at the time of the committing of the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing what was wrong.” (Goldstein