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Insanity Plea

In: English and Literature

Submitted By mr3stak
Words 1259
Pages 6
Deadly Deceivers: 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 is estimated that approximately one percent of criminal defense cases raise mental illness as a defense. Of those roughly twenty-five percent succeed. So, one quarter of one percent of criminal defendants succeed with a mental illness defense” (Edwards). Therefore, meaning that almost one fourth of criminals escape severe jail time, because of a successful insanity defense. When a

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