NCJ Number
91009
Date Published
1982
Length
58 pages
Annotation
The insanity defense should be eliminated to contribute to rationality in the criminal justice system, while the diminished capacity concept should be fully incorporated into the criminal code.
Abstract
The insanity defense is a legal fiction devised to avoid the implementation of the death penalty with seriously mentally disabled offenders. With the virtual abolition of capital punishment in the United States, the use of the insanity defense is an anachronism. Many judges and prosecutors view it as a mechanism to trigger indeterminate detention; many defense attorneys see it as an alternative to a mandatory lengthy imprisonment that holds the possibility of earlier release from confinement. In either case, the misuse of psychiatry is an inevitable consequence and does violence to the integrity of both the criminal justice system and the psychiatric profession. Originally intended to apply theoretically to the most seriously psychotic persons charged with capital crime, it is now asserted mainly by defendants who are mildly mentally ill, and sometimes not mentally ill at all, charged with crimes which do not carry the death penalty. The insanity defense is a major weakness in the administration of criminal justice and consequently breeds public cynicism, since some insanity acquittees, especially the wealthy and those represented by competent counsel, do obtain release. The insanity defense should be eliminated, and concurrently, the diminished capacity concept should be fully incorporated into the criminal code to stipulate varying degrees of mens rea or culpable mental states. Further, the psychiatric profession should take immediate steps to end the violations of medical ethics that accompany automatic posttrial confinement of those acquitted by reason of insanity. A total of 260 references are provided. (Author summary modified)