INSANITY PLEA Research Paper

Insanity plea is mechanism that is used by the defense side in a case seeking to excuse the criminal in the case by arguing that the defendant was not responsible for the actions that they committed on the grounds that they had persistent psychiatric disorder at the time they are alleged to have committed the crime they are charged for. It is also known as mental disorder defense (Claydon & Catley, 2016). The insanity plea is contrasted with the excuse of provocation whereby the defendant is found responsible, but the responsibility is lessened due to the temporary mental state that they are in. The defendant is found not guilty on the basis of being legally insane at the time when the crime was committed.

The first known instance where the insanity plea or the insanity defense was acknowledged dates back in the year 1851 where it was recorded in the English Legal Treatise which stated that if a madman or a natural fool killed someone, they could not have held accountable (Simon, 2016). The insanity plea is found by the defense accepting that the crime was committed by the defendant but then seek to have the defendant being found as innocent due to their mental state. This thus to the families causes a sense of guilt and also to the clients since they are excused of crimes that they have already accepted to have committed. On the other hand, the insanity plea helps to save lives by the failure to allow for the death penalty.

In many instance suspects in the poor mental states could have been capital offenses that are punishable by death. Thus, by excusing them from liability for committing a capital crime, their lives are saved from death as punishment for the capital crimes they have committed. It only seeks to excuse them given their mental state (Wilson, 2016). Thus a person that is being excused on the basis of being in a poor state of mind might not necessarily be relieved to return to their families. In the majority of the cases where the defendant is excused, the court prescribes that they stay in a psychiatric facility. A stay in a psychiatric facility is not always a good one since there are chances that the accused can be able to improve while undergoing treatment in the facility, and then, later on, they are tried on a sane state of mind.

This, therefore, does not excuse the family and the accused person at large of the crimes that have been committed by them. It is said that Holmes had even researched some of the insane defenses that he could have used once he was caught after finishing the mass shooting. This, therefore, gives leeway for the offenders who have the capacity to distinguish between what is morally right and what is morally wrong to be able to escape the punishment that they deserve. Tolerance of this atrocities increases the chances of this actions recurring in the future. Some of the members of the society on the other feel that they are the insane plea or the defense should be continued with. They argue that it should not be abolished at all.

The insanity plea does not therefore by al chances exist to all people that plead insane to get free of the crimes they have committed. The underlying differences that exist between the psychologists/psychiatrists and legal professionals make the insanity plea to be complicated. In the United States, in cases where insanity is the subject matter, professionals such as psychiatrists, medical doctors, psychologists and other experts in the mental health field are always consulted to give their advice and opinion on the subject matter at hand. However, the legal determination as to the insanity of the accused person solely lies with the jury. The jury is mandated to make a determination with the expert opinion that they receive from the mental health professionals.