An article entitled, Rationality, Insanity, and the Insanity Defense: Reflections on the Limits of Reason written by Theodore Y. …show more content…
The two cases explored by Blumoff (2015) within this article are of particular interest because they directly correlate with the need for the availability of an insanity defense. One case, previously mentioned, is the M’Naghten case in which the insanity defense is built upon. The other, State v. Andrea Yates, is a relatively recent case where in June of 2001 a devout Christian woman drowned her five children in the family bathtub, seeking redemption for them as she had become convinced that she was possessed by Satan (Blumoff, 2015, p. 180). Miller, too, was a devout Christian who murdered her own husband because she believed he was “working for the devil”. Yates, like Miller,