Insanity Defense

Question 1

M’Naghten Insanity Defense

Answer 1

aka Right or wrong test

requires
1. mental disease or defect of mind
2. Inability to know nature or quality of the criminal act or that the criminal act
was wrong

Question 2

Irresistible impulse insanity defen

Answer 2

requires
1. mental dis or defect of mind
2. If the defendant cannot control his or her conduct because of the mental defect or disease, the defendant’s conduct is excused even if the defendant understands that the conduct is wrong.

Question 3

Substantial capacity test created by

Answer 3

model penal code

Question 4

Substantial capacity test

Answer 4

“A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if
at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality [wrongfulness] of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law”.

Question 5

Durham insanity defense aka

Answer 5

durham rule or product test

Question 6

Durham insanity defense

Answer 6

1. irst, the defendant must have a mental disease or defect.
2. second element has to do with causation. If the criminal conduct is “caused” by the mental disease or defect, then the conduct should be excused under the circumstances.

Question 7

Section 84 of IPC

Answer 7

Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law

Question 8

Burden of proof in insanity defense

Answer 8

on accused

Question 9

Critics on insanity defense

Answer 9

a) The key terms in the various insanity tests are so vague as to invite speculation and intuitive moral judgements in the guise of factual determinations;
b) There is little or no basis in psychiatry for allowing expert witnesses to testify—as they often do, in conclusory terms—concerning the differentiation between persons who are personally blameworthy and those who are not;
c) It is therapeutically more desirable to encourage treatment of persons as actors responsible for their conduct, rather than as involuntary victims ‘playing a sick role,’
d) The insanity defense discriminates against persons who commit crimes because of influences on their personalities other than mental disease or defect.

Question 10

What it means when someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity?

Answer 10

treatment or institutionalisation

Question 11

Guilty but insane

Answer 11

the defendant would undergo a psychiatric examination and a court hearing to determine if he were still suffering from a mental disease. If so, he would be committed to a mental hospital. When in the opinion of the hospital staff he had recovered and could safely be released, the court would have another hearing. If the court was in agreement with the psychiatrist’s opinion, it would then order the defendant’s discharge.

Question 12

Guilty but mentally ill

Answer 12

who had an understanding of what he was doing at the time of the crime but was hindered to some degree by a mental illness.

he convicted defendant would receive a sentence under the applicable criminal law, but would also receive a psychiatric evaluation. If he still suffered from a mental illness, he would be institutionalized. If his mental health was restored within the time period of the criminal sentence, he would then go on to prison. If the mental illness and institutionalization were to continue beyond the length of criminal sentence, a new civil commitment hearing would have to be held to insure the constitutionality of further detention.