Affirmative defense

November 20th 1990, was the day I started my life at Oak Ridge. The justice system deemed me and my friend Prash to be criminally insane and had sent me to this prison for criminals who are deemed mentally unstable. I took a life of another because my friend Prash told me that person was a terrorist who conspire to harm me. This “Criminal Insane Building” sounds like a frightening place, my lawyer told me it is the only maximum-security health care centre in Ontario and that they would take…

1. During the program Live in Session, Jack Levin discussed his thoughts on workplace violence. Levin is a criminologist, as well as a sociologist with experience on numerous workplace violence cases. Levin clarifies the publics misunderstanding of an individual either being convicted or not convicted of a crime due to insanity. Levin describes how American jurors shy away from finding someone guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity. Levin argues many jurors (as well as the public) have…

In 1957, an Oxford University professor - Dr Lambert - demonstrated a case of female hysteria on Rose Brown to his class. She was an innocuous woman, who was driven insane by her sexually addicted husband, and protested that she was sane. “Touché!”... “All mental patients claim to be sane, just as all criminals claim to be innocent”, emphasized the professor. He advised his students to believe nothing that they heard and only half of what they saw. To them they saw a hysterical lunatic, but to…

Is Society Insane? America, to some people, is known as the land of the free, but for others, the American society has become increasingly isolating and insane. Insane is defined as a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction. Some people say society as a whole is insane, others believe only certain people in the society are just battling with specific issues. However, listening and watching news stories about citizens being killed due to road rage, the open…

In 1999, Andrew Goldstein pushed a young lady named Kendra Webdale in front of a moving train, killing her. He has a history of schizophrenia, claimed to hear voices. Knowing that he has this mental disorder the insanity plea will give him freedom and he may put others life in danger. This disorder made him physically push this lady in front of the moving train. Without the insanity plea he would have been punished and maybe learned how to deal with this disorder. So no matter what the reason…

For someone to be deemed insane, there are many things to be considered. For one, the person must have the “inability to distinguish fantasy from reality”, they also must be free from mental derangement; having a sound, healthy mind. The traditional test of insanity in criminal cases is whether the accused knows the difference between right and wrong following the “M’Naghten Rule” from 19th Century England. Hamlet is a sane man throughout the entirety of the play. It was his consistent…

Ladies and gentleman of the court, although misconceived, Mr. Smith is a sweet man with a kind heart, who has had the displeasure of being born insane. The murder and disassembly of Mr. Smith is an extremely tragic incident that should never happen to another being. Although all of us feel sympathetic for Mr. Jones and his family, but the blame should not be put on Mr. Smith, but on his condition. The legal definition of insanity is, “a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot…

There were many different aspects in this chapter that I found to be very interesting for me. I was very surprised at the number for people who plead “insanity” was at a staggering less than 1%. I often here of people trying to beat many charges and plan on pleading the insanity plea. I believe that the actual number of people who claim insanity may be scared out of sticking to that plea. I have always thought that pleading insanity will get you less time just in a mental institution; when in…

How would you feel knowing a man stabbed his wife twenty-six times and killed her, but walks the streets as a free man just because he was “sleepwalking,” not too safe right? The previous question presents one of the many flaws in the United States' legal system: the misuse of the plea for insanity. First, we need to understand that the plea for insanity does not give a criminal a “get out of jail free” card. Many of the cases where the plea for insanity is used the criminal is forced to serve…

In our society, whether it be modern or past times, Insanity has always been a behavior that has been looked upon in a negative light. If a person behaves in a way that does not follow what society considers normal, usually, they are ostracized. However, we cannot confuse insanity with irrationality. Throughout this film, Tom engages in many immoral acts that can be perceived as acts of insanity: Murder, fraud, and deception, all on a grand scale. But, when taking into consideration how…