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...Insanity defense is a legal provision Insanity defense, which is also referred to as the mental disorder defense, is a defensive mechanism that is based on excuse in criminal trials. In the insanity defense, the defendant is alleged not to be responsible for the criminal actions because they have a persistent psychiatric illness or episodic. The insanity defense is one of the oldest fixtures of the Anglo-American legal tradition (Ewing, 2008 p. 188). Most of the cases that relate to the insanity defense are normally highly controversial, contested and time consuming. Consequently, in insanity defense, the defense is based on the information given by the accused in a criminal prosecution; the action is made this way to avoid defensive liability...
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...Criminal Defense Case Analysis Melissa Bowman CJA/305 January 30, 2016 Jerri Green Introduction This paper will go over two cases that explain the nature and types of defense used and the evidence used to demonstrate the defense. The first case explained will discuss Andrea Yates, a mom who killed her five children on grounds of insanity. The next case Jean Harris also claimed to be insane and by accident killed someone by accident as she tried to commit suicide. It will also address how justification and excuse play a role in the cases. Lastly, the outcomes of each case will be given. Explain the nature and types of defenses used in the cases and what evidence was used to demonstrate the defense. There are multiple types of defense, justification and excuse are affirmative defenses. This is when it must be raised or asserted by the defendant independently of any claims made by the prosecutor. The first case to be explained is about Andrea Yates, the type of defense she chooses was innocence by reason of insanity Andrea Yates Biography. (2016). She had cited postpartum psychosis. Yates was treated for postpartum depression and psychosis; they showed that the illness ran in her family. The birth of her fifth child and death of her father was shown as a reason she fell into a severe depression. She had been admitted to Devereux-Texas Treatment Network and was put on psychotropic drug treatments Andrea Yates Biography. (2016). She was accused of drowning all......
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...The “Insanity” Plea The “Insanity” Plea A criminal defendant who is found to have been legally insane in the course of committing a crime is relieved the criminal responsibility by the virtue of suffering from a mental disease (Findlaw, 2015). In some cases, the accused may be sentenced to a less severe sentence or punishment after being found on the wrong side of the law because of the mental impairment. Many nations allow the insanity defense in their legal systems. However, the accused must prove to the court that they were not on their senses or acted upon uncontrolled impulse or some variety of these factors when doing the wrongful doings. The general sense of insanity plea is to provide the alleged perpetrator of the criminal offense a fair trial. The society is even in agreement with this principle in extreme cases. Nonetheless, the major challenge falls on where to draw the line. That is, the circumstances where one can be considered insane and instances when he or she is not. It is worth noting that, no matter how appealing the crime itself is, it doesn’t demonstrate the level of insanity. Today, the legal systems use way too much of the insanity defenses. While there are many questionable defense tactics, insanity plea targets to protect the rights of the accused and further the course of justice. This paper discusses the insanity plea as used in the legal systems in the present times. What is the main purpose of insanity plea? How did it......
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...Introduction In this paper, you will read about the different insanity statutes being used in our country and a little about how they became our insanity statutes. I am going to discuss which insanity statute is being used in the state I live in and how often it is used. Since we will know how often this defense is used, you will also learn how successful it is. I will discuss the major criticisms and whether the psychologist should provide an ultimate opinion in sanity cases. Lastly, we will learn about some of the difficulties in providing appropriate psychological treatment for the mentally ill who are not seen as insane and are subsequently convicted of their charges, while incarcerated. The Insanity Defense During a pretrial a defendant may opt to plea “not guilty by reason of insanity” (NGRI). The insanity statutes are; The M’Naughten Rule, Model Penal Code (which is now known as the Brawner Rule). “The M’Naughten rule was developed to determine whether or not an individual accused of a crime was mentally ill at the time the crime was committed, and if they would be held criminally responsible for their “wrongdoing” (M’Naughten Rule, n.d.). The Brawner Rule “states that a defendant is not responsible for criminal conduct if he, ‘at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect, [lacks] substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality [wrongfulness] of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law’” (Greene, 2010 p......
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...with the Insanity Defense Shorter University Abstract There are many cases that exist currently and historically regarding the “Insanity Defense.” In some cases, those convicted for murderous crimes, was said to be guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). In other words, the person that committed the crime, was not made aware of his or her actions at the time when the crime was committed or the perpetrator was not in his or her right mind; therefore, causing him or her to have some form of mental illness. However, the question becomes are there ethical issues within the use of this plea? The criminal justice system is supposed to protect the lives of others. In many cases, it only becomes a question of ethics if there is a misuse of the insanity defense. This defense can sometimes cause one to question this defense because victims of the perpetrator are left to resolve the death of their loved ones based on guilty by reason of insanity. In some situations, criminals are not competent to stand trial for their crime, which for families of the victims, closure seems to be never ending, especially if there is not a death or life sentence involved. However, criminals that commit crimes without knowledge of the act should be entitled to receive proper help and receive a fair trial. Therefore, this paper will focus on the history of the insanity defense and how the insanity defense came into play. A synopsis of some familiar cases involving the use of the insanity defense will be......
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...reactions towards the insane criminal. People base their judgement of the criminal and the insane on their representations in the media, which are usually based on stereotypes. Whether insanity is a prerequisite quality for being a criminal or criminality is a manifestation of insanity, there is a definite link between the two, that has been strengthened by the media’s portrayal of the insane criminal. Michel Foucault discusses people’s tendencies to classify people as “normal” or “abnormal” (Faubion 1994). “Abnormal” refers to anyone who deviates from the norm and as a result, we treat the criminal and the insane in a similar manner: We remove them from society in order to give ourselves peace of mind, yet this treatment is not a new phenomenon. For centuries, society has attempted to marginalise both the criminal and the insane. In Madness and Civilization: a History of Insanity in the Age of Reason (1965) Foucault describes this classification as a means to exclude certain types of people from society, by placing them in prisons or institutions. They are taken out of the social order and locked away, to present a “safer” world for those who consider themselves “normal”. We classify the criminal and the insane as “abnormal” without truly understanding the underlying issues of criminality and insanity. This begs the question of what the criminal and the insane actually have in common? Foucault states that criminals are defined in terms of three different discourses:......
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...Jared Cruz Professor Estrada American Lit. 1 April 18th, 2015 Word Count: 1,799 Gravity: An Analysis of Insanity in Wieland To some, the definition of madness is a state in which one is mentally unstable and filled with irrationality. To others like famous scientist Albert Einstein, true insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results every time. Regardless of how it is defined, one fact about insanity or madness remains true to this day and can be summed up by one quote from perhaps the most famous insane character of all time, the Joker: “Madness, as you know, is like gravity... All it takes is a little push!” This very idea of insanity and how susceptible to madness the mind can be is a central theme throughout Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland. In the novel, one of the primary forces behind everyone's growing paranoia and dementia are a series of voices that literally cause the protagonist's brother, Theodore Wieland, to murder his wife and children. Of course the voices not only affect Theodore, but rather the entire community as a whole, namely the protagonist herself. Clara Wieland is just as easily prone to the insanity that overcomes her circle of friends and family. Many times throughout the novel, Clara demonstrates various qualities of irrationality, such as contemplating suicide and struggling to maintain grasp onto reality. While these are prime examples of madness within the novel, one's sanity that often goes unchecked is that...
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...This paper will address the validity of the insanity defense as it relates to the case of Andrea Yates. I believe that the court was incorrect in the verdict of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. I believe this because she and her family could have taken many precautions in preventing the tragic deaths of her children. Also, after the murders of her children, she called her husband and stated that she “finally did it”; her saying this indicates that she had been planning the murders of her children for some time and had just then decided to act on her plans. Additionally, following her arrest, Andrea told her husband that she wouldn't need a lawyer because she wasn't planning on pleading not guilty. First of all, there were numerous precautions...
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...Criminal Behavior Lorenzo Reid Virginia College Online Abstract The following paper will address the different areas of the Psychological and Psychiatric Foundations of Criminal Behavior. Within this paper, every aspect from theories to what the law states when it comes to this state will be addressed. Criminal Behavior Doctor Leon Eisenberg once stated, "...persons who are seriously mentally ill are far more likely to be the victims of violence than its initiators." (Campbell) Yet how true is that? When it comes to mental illness, there have been several violent crimes that have been committed, and been blamed on mental illness. There are several shows for entertainment such as the show “Criminal Minds”, that attempts to bring a reality and understanding to mental illness and criminal behavior. This show gives a reality to the fact that people can be simply mentally ill and not simply criminals. In early society times, people simply did not take mental illness into account. It was thought that people, regardless of their mental state, should be accountable for their actions. Yet, in today’s society, this is not the case. Due to research and a better developed country, citizens are given an opportunity to show that their mental state was not steady when they committed a crime. So, what is it then, which motivated a person to kill or maim another? How can a person kill someone else, or a numerous amount of people, with no remorse? These questions and......
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...Criminal Defense Case Analysis Paper Brandy Alston University of Phoenix Criminal Law CJA/343 Professor Joseph Wade March 1, 2012 Criminal Defense Case Analysis Paper Many individuals are aware of the process that lawyer go through to convict an individual. The prosecution has to prove a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of a crime, the accused does not have to present evidence for the innocent. The Fifth Amendment is the United States constitution states a defendant is not compelled to under oath criminate themselves, however in most cases the defendant want the chance to prove their innocent in court by having a defense. Criminal law is define as a code, rules, or statute that prohibits the conducts this is prohibit in region or state, federal government. However, when laws results in violations where the individual charged with the crime and haul off to jail. Although once the individual charged, they have the right to defend themselves in court with legal representation. This paper aims to examine and identify the different kind of criminal defense used in a criminal trial. This paper will discuss the two common defenses used in our justice system legal I did it but and factual I did not do it, the defense I did not do it means presumption of innocent and the defense I did it but means guilty with reason. Factual defense is the legal defense offers two group defense excuse and justification that has six categories for them. In......
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...The Hidden Criminal CRJ308: Psychology of Criminal Behavior (BLG1231A) Instructor: Stephanie Myers September 3, 2012 The Hidden Criminal “I doubt if a single individual could be found from the whole of mankind free from some form of insanity. The only difference is one of degree.” (Desiderius Erasmus) Determining mental disorders among the criminal population is difficult as well as tedious but it is important that they are continue to be researched to better understand the criminal mind and to distinguish those that are plagued by mental disorders from those that choose the life of crime. In this paper I want to address the way the criminal with mental disorders perceive situations compared with what we would consider a normal person and that of a person who commits a crime for personal reasons. The first thing that should be known is that a person with a mental disorder(s) can seem like a completely normal person. In several segments of Hidden in Plain Sight: Looking for Mental Illness we see that picking out a person with a mental disorder is almost as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack even when you know what you are looking for. This research was on a group of ten people that some experienced different disorders while there was nothing wrong with others. Gathering these people to live together for five days while three different Psychiatrists observing. Their goal was to pick out the ones with disorders from those who were considered normal. This...
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...others. He said that God told him to do it. The doctors said that he suffered from a religious psychosis (Rawlins). Some people seem to get away with these kinds of heinous crimes because of insanity and others, who really have mental problems, get locked away in prison and forgotten about. The definition of insanity is “the mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct his/her affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior” (Insanity). In other words, a person may live in a fantasy world and believe that things are going on around them that really are not. Also, a person may not be able to control their urges. For instance, a person may get the urge to flip someone the middle finger that cuts them off in traffic. This would be an uncontrollable impulsive behavior. Many serial killers use this line of defense as a strategy to get put into a mental hospital rather than prison. Mental hospitals give prisoners less rules and more freedoms than do Pierce 2 prisons. Some killers though, are truly insane. There is a fine line, as well as a good defense attorney, as to which side you fall on, sane or insane. Jeffrey Dahmer committed at least seventeen murders and entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea but was found guilty of fifteen murders and found to be sane. One might ask how Dahmer can be sane after butchering so many young men and even keeping parts of their bodies in......
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...Why criminals shouldn’t be able to plea insanity Just imagine for a second this scenario. Its premier night for the most anticipated movie of the year “The Dark Knight Rises” and you’re finally making it into your seat after standing for about an hour outside the theatre. The lights dim as the movie starts, and bang! A guy busts through the door fully armed and starts firing into the seat. Seventy people are injured, twelve of them die. The man responsible for this crime is currently on trial, and has the chance to be acquitted because he plans on pleading insanity. Prosecutors in this case proclaim: This just allows the defense to think through how they want to proceed…That makes it easier for the defense to plan its best case. Holmes could plead insanity and would wind up in a mental hospital indefinitely – and would never face execution, if the jury finds in his favor (Campbell). This would not be fair to the people who were injured and to the loved ones of the people who lost their lives in the shooting. Just as a kid would do anything not to get in trouble by their mother, so would a criminal who could face life in jail or execution, which is why pleading insanity shouldn’t be up to a criminal, because they would do anything to get out of jail time. The insanity plea, also known as the insanity defense, is a type criminal defense used in order to reduce their liability in court. Barry S. Edwards, a Minnesota criminal defense attorney, asserts that “It......
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...depression. Her husband john, a physician, takes her to a leased summer home to try to relieve her with rest-cure. Rather than curing his wife from her disorder, John worsens the effects sending her into a severe depression. The role of the yellow wallpaper plays a dominant role in the story reviling her insanity through her writings, her husband’s treatments that worsen her health; and the lady behind the wallpaper. The narration in the Yellow Wallpaper is written in a unique first person point of view. Because of this we are able to see the deterioration of her state throughout the whole story. The narrator of the story is isolated from the outside world only exposed through a barred window to look out. She has no contact with the outside world, except john and their housekeeper Jennie, which leads her to writing. John does not want his wife to write because he thinks it will diminish her treatment, but she does anyway, which is exhausting for her to do it in secret. As the narrators writings further in the story we start to see her sense of sanity diminish. She becomes delirious from her sense of normality. At first the yellow wallpaper was just ugly to the narrator, then the wall paper became a pain, and by the end it was unbearably bad. Her writings progressively show how her treatment is failing because of the schizophrenic nature she portrays. John plays a...
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...Explore, in depth, one well-known criminal case. You may select your own case, or select from one of the following: Jeffery McDonald, Andrea Yates, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Aileen Wournos, John Wayne Gacy, Philip Markoff (the Craigslist killer), Scott Peterson, Anthony Sowell, or Dennis Rader (BTK strangler). Your case study should focus on the following 1. Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. 2. Must include a title page with the following: a. Title of paper b. Student’s name c. Course name and number d. Instructor’s name e. Date submitted 3. Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement. 4. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought. 5. Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis. 6. Must use five to eight scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library. 7. Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. 8. Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. a.Summarize the case, including a description of the offense(s), the investigation, and the outcome (such as the trial and sentencing). b.Analyze the psychological history or path that took the criminal to commit his or her crime(s). Describe the psychological, behavioral, environmental, and cognitive factors that you believe led to the......
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