LEGAL ISSUES

= conflict between protection of society and of the rights of the person

• INSANITY DEFENSE*

-civil commitment

* definitions differ by jurisdiction

Insanity is a 19^th century legal term referring to diminished responsibility for illegal behavior

The insanity defense is the legal argument that a person should not be held accountable for an illegal act if:

1 -the illegal act followed from a mental illness that interferes with rationality

or

2 -the illegal act results from some other circumstance, such as not knowing right from wrong (excluding ignorance of law)

ORIGINS OF THE INSANITY DEFENSE

• Irresistible impulse = person was compelled to commit the criminal act (1834; no free will)

• M’Naghten rule = person was laboring under a defect of reason as not to know the nature and quality of the act (1843)

• Durham rule = person is not responsible if their unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect (1954)

• American Law Institute crime caused by mental illness except anti-social PD, wrongfulness not understood, & cannot control behavior (1962)

AMENDMENTS TO THE INSANITY DEFENSE

• The successful use of the insanity defense by John Hinckley who shot President Reagan in 1981 led to reform efforts

• Elimination of the irresistible impulse component
• Mental defect must be "severe"
• Burden of proof is shifted to the defendants to prove that the defendant was not sane
• In Hawaii, voluntary intoxication excluded

"Guilty but mentally ill" plea allows a person to be found guilty but incarcerated in a mental hospital rather than a prison in some states (not HI)

Comparison of Public Perceptions of the Insanity Defense with Actual Use

(Silver et al., 1994)

Public

Perception % Reality %

Insanity plea for felony indictment 37 1

Insanity pleas resulting in NGRI 44 26

NGRI sent to mental hospitals 51 85

NGRI set free 26 15

NGRI given conditional release 12

NGRI given outpatient treatment 3

NGRI given unconditional release 1

Months of confinement for NGRI

All crimes 22 33

Murder 76

NGRI = not guilty by reason of insanity

COMPETENCY TO STAND TRIAL

• The insanity defense applies to the mental state of the person at the time of the crime

• Competency assesses whether the person has sufficient current mental presence to stand trial

• Be able to communicate with their attorney

• Have a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings

• Incompetent persons are placed in an institution for treatment for some period of time

COMPETENCY TO STAND TRIAL

Con'd

-more judged incompetent to stand trial than found NGRI

-when found incompetent:

-bail is denied (loss of rights)

-commitment for pretrial evaluation

-in some cases, long periods of time may elapse before the person is judged competent

(in some cases, longer than the prison term if were found competent and if were found guilty)

COMMITMENT PROCEDURES

Criminal commitment

= the process in which a mentally ill person who has committed a crime is confined to an institution

(prison or mental hospital)

(Mental illness defined by jury)

1 - For determination of competency to stand trial

2 - Following acquittal on the basis of insanity

(time in hospital can be longer than prison sentence would have been if found sane)

Civil commitment

= a set of court procedures by which a mentally ill and dangerous person can be incarcerated within a mental hospital

(involuntary hospitalization)

• the person has not committed a crime

• Justification for commitment includes

• The person is mentally ill

• The person is judged to be a danger to self (and/or to others)

Civil commitment con'd

• More common than criminal commitment

• Is a form of preventive detention

(from which most people are protected)

• Assumes violence can be predicted

• Only 3% of the violence in the U.S.A. is linked to mental illness

• 90% of the mentally ill are not violent

-à criminalization of mental disorders

No Signs of Signs of Mental

http://www.am.org/cudcp/CUDCPIntro.html

http://pantheon.yale.edu/~tat22//