Over time, new laws are created to help make the judgment if one is innocent or guilty based on facts and evidence. It has become more difficult to prove innocence or guilt because of certain laws. The creation of more specific and detailed laws is due to American society. The insanity defense is a specific law which has gotten harder to prove. It is a defense used in the court of law to plea not guilty due to a mental state that does not allow the accuser to know what (s)he has done. American society's view of this law is causing it to be on the verge of being abolished. American society affects the creation of the insanity defense, the view of why the plea should be abolished, and the view of why the plea should be used in court of law.
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“All men have impulses, but society demands that you resist them or face the consequences”(Collins 1). Society does not agree with the idea of the insanity plea. Every action has a consequence. Anyone who commits a crime has some mental issue, but a psychologist will determine if the defendant could be helped in a mental hospital. If one could not be helped he would be sentenced to jail. Sentencing one in a mental state could make this criminal worse by putting him with criminals that are not mentally ill. If the criminal is sentenced to a mental hospital the judge would then decide how long the criminal stays there. The law for a mentally ill criminal states “No person shall hereafter be convicted of any criminal charge when at the time of the act. . .he was suffering from mental disease”(Frym 579). Therefore, the judge would send him/her to a mental hospital to be treated. An example of a court case would be when “. . . last month a gunman who shot and killed 20 elementary school children and six adults was thought to be mentally ill”(Mitchell 1). This man was convicted of being mentally ill by a psychologist, sentencing him to a mental hospital to be treated. “But once the mental hospital clears the criminal he/she are free to go without any assurance he/she are keeping up with their medications”(Mitchell 1). This causes Americans to fear that those criminals are set free with no security that society is safe with them. Therefore, some Americans believe that when one pleads insanity (s)he gets away from the crime, but one is sent to a state hospital which is no better than a prison. “A forensic hospital is not a safe place . . . The patient rights system and current mental-health laws, both well-intentioned, conspire to make a system in which the rights of patients are paramount and often detrimental to staff and other patient's safety”(Seager). Giving freedom to the
“All men have impulses, but society demands that you resist them or face the consequences”(Collins 1). Society does not agree with the idea of the insanity plea. Every action has a consequence. Anyone who commits a crime has some mental issue, but a psychologist will determine if the defendant could be helped in a mental hospital. If one could not be helped he would be sentenced to jail. Sentencing one in a mental state could make this criminal worse by putting him with criminals that are not mentally ill. If the criminal is sentenced to a mental hospital the judge would then decide how long the criminal stays there. The law for a mentally ill criminal states “No person shall hereafter be convicted of any criminal charge when at the time of the act. . .he was suffering from mental disease”(Frym 579). Therefore, the judge would send him/her to a mental hospital to be treated. An example of a court case would be when “. . . last month a gunman who shot and killed 20 elementary school children and six adults was thought to be mentally ill”(Mitchell 1). This man was convicted of being mentally ill by a psychologist, sentencing him to a mental hospital to be treated. “But once the mental hospital clears the criminal he/she are free to go without any assurance he/she are keeping up with their medications”(Mitchell 1). This causes Americans to fear that those criminals are set free with no security that society is safe with them. Therefore, some Americans believe that when one pleads insanity (s)he gets away from the crime, but one is sent to a state hospital which is no better than a prison. “A forensic hospital is not a safe place . . . The patient rights system and current mental-health laws, both well-intentioned, conspire to make a system in which the rights of patients are paramount and often detrimental to staff and other patient's safety”(Seager). Giving freedom to the