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Insanity Defense: Article Analysis

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This article is trying to show that the public has an inaccurate perception of the Insanity Defense. Even though, the public does acknowledge that there is a need for the insanity defense to exist, but it is “considered a loophole , that allows too many guilty people to go free.” (Silver, Cirincione, & Steadman, 1994)
The method for this article is study of a sample that was taken among different counties in eight states, to meet the criteria, they wanted to obtain two thirds of all the insanity acquittals in each state. There was a total of forty-nine counties that was looked at and they used defendants that entered an insanity plea anytime during their defense between 1976 and 1985. (Silver, Cirincione, & Steadman, 1994). Things that was took into consideration was the demographic characteristics of the defendant, such as arrest, charge, victim characteristics, verdict and sentence …show more content…
The media reporting of certain stories plays a big part as to why there is such an inaccurate perception of the insanity defense. There are two tables, that represent their findings; table 1 presents the profile of study states, while table 2 has two parts A and B. Part A shows a comparison of the public’s estimate of the level of use the insanity defense receives, and it actual level of use across eight states that was studied; the rate far exceeds the actual plea rate, while public’s estimate of 37% more than the actual plea rate of 0.9%. Table 2 part B compares what the public believes happens to persons acquitted by reason of insanity, to what actually happens. (Silver, Cirincione, & Steadman,

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