Malingering (Faking) The Insanity Defense

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Malingering (Faking) the Insanity Defense The story at the beginning of this paper illustrates this issue well, even though, it is quite uncommon. Studies have shown that about 82% of insanity defendants have been diagnosed with major medical illnesses. So, what about the 18% that were not diagnosed with a mental illness? Could it be that they were faking it the whole time? This is where their insanity defense falls apart because somehow, somewhere, they will be caught in a lie. That is what the SIRS test is all about. The SIRS test is set of 172 questions that take about 30-45 minutes to implement . It is organized by eight primary and five supplementary scales that tests from rare symptoms to blatant symptoms to the selectivity of symptoms. It effectively determines if someone is lying about their mental illness as it has a “2-3% false-positive rate” .
Guilty but Mentally Ill
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They would be charged to the fullest extent of the law for their crime, but they would get the mental illness treatment needed. This defense is strict as it would place a requirement of a severe mental disease where the defendant would not be able to understand the wrongness of the crime committed . This would need to be proven with clear evidence . If the defendants successfully use a GBMI defense, they would first go to the mental facility under close supervision. They would get treated for their mental issues. Once the facility has been able to subdue or maintain the prisoner’s mental health, then they would be transferred to the prison to complete their incarceration and they would continue to supply their medication with regular mental health

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