Essay Ill or Evil The Insanity Defense - 1559 Words

Insanity is one of those words used today that gets thrown around a lot. Our society has become so numb to it because we were it on a regular basis. Albert Einstein describes insanity as â€Å"doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.† Albert Einstein may have been a genius, but in this case he is wrong. There are people in this world who are mentally insane and they can’t help themselves. On rare occasions people like this become killers. In the legal system we have a defense an accused murderer can use to show they were not in their right mind when the act occurred. This is the insanity defense. This happens in 1% of criminal trials in the United States (US). A perfect example of a case that used†¦show more content†¦Not heeding her doctors warnings she became pregnant with her fifth child. After this, she engaged in self-mutilation, refused to eat, stopped feeding her baby, and â€Å"read the bible compulsively be fore falling into an almost catatonic state.† (Ewing 143). On June 20, 2001, Andrea Yates filled the bathtub with water and drowned all five of her children. After this she called the police confessing what she did, and then called her husband. She was charged with multiple counts of murder. After the jury listened to all testimonies she was found to be competent to stand trial because at trial she was being treated daily by a mental health professional and was on medications. Also, because the jury claimed that she, at the time, knew exactly what she was doing and killed her children in cold blood. She was found guilty and the jury decided in lieu of the death penalty, she would receive a sentence of life in prison. The decision was overturned in a 2005 Texas Court of Appeals after a psychiatric witness for the prosecution admitted he lied about his testimony, falsifying that she got the idea from a Law and Order episode, and a new trial began. Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and was committed to a state hospital in Texas, where, more than likely, she will spend the rest of her life institutionalized. This is just one example of how the insanity defense woks in a court of law. According toShow MoreRelatedThe Insanity Plea Essay1134 Words   |  5 PagesThe Insanity Plea The insanity plea is a poor excuse for serious lawbreakers, and should have no bearing in the sentencing of criminals. All criminal cases today have three ways in which a defendant can plea. Guilty, not guilty, or Insanity. The word insane is a legal term. Because research has identified many different mental illnesses of varying severities, it is now too simplistic to describe a severely mentally ill person merely as insane. The federal law states that insanity is a fairRead MoreMelissa Lee. English 1100. Apirl-3-2017. . On March 24,1202 Words   |  5 PagesDuring the police interview, Thomas expounded that God told him to kill his family because they were possessed by evil spirits and that his estranged wife Laura was Jezebel, his son was the anti-Christ, and Laura’s daughter Leyla was an evil spirt. While in jail, Thomas told a nurse that his wife and children weren’t really dead and he had to remove their hearts to free them from evil spirts. Thomas refused to take anti-psychotic medication and while in custody, during two separate incidents, he hadRead MoreThe Insanity Plea: History and Implications2382 Words   |  10 Pagesthe insanity plea, a few questions should be kept in min d---1. How can we be sure that a person is indeed insane (he could be putting on a show) and 2. Should a mentally ill person be punished at all. Today in our legal system, there are numerous amounts of defense tactics that are designed to protect the rights of the accused, and to further the process of justice. However, in many cases this augmentation of justice has been taken too far, and as a result, pleas such as â€Å"Temporary insanity† areRead MoreNot Guilty by Reason of Insanity: a Look Into the Insanity Defense1971 Words   |  8 Pagesof Insanity: A Look into the Insanity Defense On Friday, March 3, 1843, the trial of The Queen v. Daniel McNaughton (West, Walk 12) began. The verdict of this trail changed the way the civilized world views the criminally insane. People who were criminally insane went from being viewed as evil and wild beasts to people who could not be held accountable for their actions at the time of the crime they committed. As time progressed, the insanity defense became an acceptable defense andRead MoreThe Andre Yates Case : Crime And Delinquency1602 Words   |  7 Pagesfact that there was an abundance of evidence to suggest that Andrea was legally insane at the time of the killings. In fact, 63% of the American public wanted her to receive the death penalty (). Although she was eventually acquitted by reason of insanity, both the judicial system and the American public should take a more mental-health-aware approach to the individuals they commit to prison. Andrea Yates, then Andrea Kennedy, was born July 2nd 1964 to a middle class family in Houston, Texas.Read MoreAn Analysis of Forensic Psychology in the Film, Primal Fear2856 Words   |  11 PagesForensic psychology in Primal Fear (1996) Primal Film (1996) is a legal thriller with Martin Vail represented as an ambitious; high profile Chicago Defense Lawyer hired to defend Aaron Kentucky charged with murder of Chicagos Archbishop, Richard Rushman. 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Children are often taught from a young age a world of black and white—a world of good and bad. As we age, we begin to explore newly found gray area in our everyday lives. One issue to consider is the gray area in the American criminal justice system. Are all the inmates in the city, county, state, and federal prisons the â€Å"bad† guys? Or is there another evil taking over a â€Å"good† person? Do people believe there should be aRead MoreCriminal Responsibility in Individuals with Dissociative Identity Disorder3385 Words   |  14 Pageslegal system is the ‘insanity defense’ in which during a criminal trial, the defendant will make a claim that they are not guilty by reason of insanity, or in other words, they have deficient and impaired cognitive and mental capabilities. These mental health problems associated with insanity are caused by psychopathological disorders, which may have led to their dysfunction. 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