NCJ Number
91010
Date Published
1982
Length
27 pages
Annotation
The insanity defense inevitably results in the misuse of psychiatry and undermines the integrity of the criminal justice system and the legal profession; it should be abolished and be replaced by use of the diminished capacity defense as a means of assessing sanctions in accord with culpability.
Abstract
Abolition of the insanity defense need not involve the unjust and cruel treatment of the mentally ill offender nor the release of dangerous persons from government control. Exculpation by reason of insanity is inimical to the interests of the defendant and of society. Such 'acquittal' stigmatizes the defendant forever as 'criminally insane' and confronts society with the not infrequent danger of the prematurely released insanity acquittee. The abolition of the insanity defense and the adoption of an expanded diminished mental capacity doctrine would permit the gradation of offenses at the earliest stages of prosecution and certainly at the trial. This offers the defendant the opportunity to demonstrate mitigating circumstances which ameliorate culpability under the charged offense. The eradication of the insanity defense would lead to the adoption of humanitarian dispositional rules for persons found culpable, while enabling courts to discharge public safety responsibilities by closer scrutiny and monitoring of defendants considered dangerous. A total of 126 references are provided.