The Insanity Defense Flashcards
(8 cards)
What is the difference between CST and insanity?
Adjudicative competence: includes CST, refers to the defendant’s current ability to understand court proceedings and effectively assist the attorney in their defense at the time of the trial.
Insanity, diminished responsibility: refers to the defendants mental state at the time the crime was committed.
CST = state of mind at time of trial
Insanity = state of mind at the time the crime was committed
What does insanity require?
A defendant lacks moral responsibility and culpability for the crime and thus should not be held accountable.
Insanity does not correspond to any psychiatric diagnosis and is crafted by legislators and judges, not psychiatrists or psychologists.
What is the M’Naghten Rule?
A defendant is considered insane if, due to a mental disease or defect, they either did not know the nature and quality of their act, or if they didn’t know it was wrong.
What is the Durham Standard?
A legal test for the insanity defense.
“An accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect.”
Designed to allow mental health professionals to determine if the criminal behavior was caused by mental illness.
Widely criticized for being too vague and over reliant on psychiatric testimony, leading most states to abandon it except for NH.
What is the ALI standard?
A legal test for insanity used in many US jurisdictions.
“A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if, at the time of such conduct and as a result of mental disease or defect, they lack substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality (wrongfulness) of their conduct or to conform their conduct to the requirements of law”
Includes both cognitive and volitional prong.
Cognitive prong: defendant must lack capacity to understand their actions.
Volitional prong: defendant lacks capacity to conform their behavior to the law.
Prohibits the meeting of “mental disease or defect” requirement by claiming either intoxication or a mental illness characterized by repeated criminal conduct.
What is the Hinckley Case?
ALI standard was used in instructing the jury that the defendant attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.
Federal law required the prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was sane= the burden of proof shifted to the prosecution.
Hinckley was found not guilty by a reason of insanity, sparking public outrage.
What is the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984?
Because of public outrage for Hinckley being found not guilty by reason of insanity, Congress passed the Insanity Defense Reform Act, abandoning ALI.
It shifted the burden to the defendant to prove insanity by “clear and convincing evidence” and limited psychiatric testimony on ultimate legal issues.
What is Guilty by Mentally Ill?
An attempt to bypass the definitional morass of insanity; sentenced to prison but eligible for mental health help.
Usually receive longer sentences.
