Insanity Defense

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This brief paper aims to support that the legal defense of an “Insanity Defense orPlea” in a courtroom should only be employed in cases where there is clear and documented evidence that a person’s criminal actions were impaired due to a diagnosed mental disorder that impacts their ability to control their own behaviors and/or fully appreciate or comprehend that their actions were wrong, illegal or prohibited. ForensicPsychology is a clinical psychology that interconnects two types of psychological service including the psychological evaluation and assessment as well as the rehabilitation of convicted criminals once in the prison system(citation). The “Insanity Defense” is based on evaluations and the diagnosis by forensic mental health professional sutilizing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, FifthEdition (DSM-5), which is the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the United States (citation), Ina legal court case, if a person is to be convicted of a crime, it is the responsibility of the prosecution to prove that the accused engaged in a guilty act (actus reus) as well as having guilty intent (mens rea) (citation).However, if a person commits a criminal act with the intent to commit the act,but is suffering from a …show more content…
The insanity defense is a legal principal that has evolved over cultures and time. As stated in the article “The Emperor in the Courtroom: psychology and pseudo-science” by Michael E. Coles, Coles asserts that “mental health experts, both psychiatrists and psychologists, have not only been appearing in courtrooms more often, they have been moving more and more towards center stage” (Coles, citation). Although the “insanity defense” is utilized in present day, it remains quite

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