Often times, I think the insanity defense is used consciously to escape penalties of the law. Or perhaps it can be referred to as the “defense of last resort,” when there is no question that the accused committed the act and the defense can think of nothing else to exonerate his/her client. Consider the case of Andrea Yates. In my opinion, Yates knew the difference between right and wrong at the time of the drownings. Yates did not believe she was washing laundry or putting out a fire. Yates carried out an efficient and well planned murder, keeping her plan private, and waiting until her husband had left the house for work. Yates turned herself in immediately after killing her children by calling 911. While it’s possible that Yates drowned her children to escape overwhelming stress, she understood that society would disapprove of her actions. Yates was diagnosed with postpartum mental illness; however, I do not believe such illness caused her to kill her own children. It would certainly be interesting to look at research in this area and see if a link has been
Often times, I think the insanity defense is used consciously to escape penalties of the law. Or perhaps it can be referred to as the “defense of last resort,” when there is no question that the accused committed the act and the defense can think of nothing else to exonerate his/her client. Consider the case of Andrea Yates. In my opinion, Yates knew the difference between right and wrong at the time of the drownings. Yates did not believe she was washing laundry or putting out a fire. Yates carried out an efficient and well planned murder, keeping her plan private, and waiting until her husband had left the house for work. Yates turned herself in immediately after killing her children by calling 911. While it’s possible that Yates drowned her children to escape overwhelming stress, she understood that society would disapprove of her actions. Yates was diagnosed with postpartum mental illness; however, I do not believe such illness caused her to kill her own children. It would certainly be interesting to look at research in this area and see if a link has been