Some states consider this test in combination with the M’Naghten test, holding that when a defendant could not understand his or her own actions, nor control them, the insanity defense applies. If so, the defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity. The irresistible impulse test is used to determine whether, as a result of a mental disease or defect, a defendant was unable to control or resist his or her own impulses, thus leading to a criminal act. This test is currently used only in New Hampshire, since it has been deemed too broad by other states and jurisdictions. The Durham Rule holds that if a criminal defendant’s “mental disease or defect” was the reason that he or she committed a crime, the defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity. This test relies on the notion that defendants may be diseased such that they are incapable of understanding their own actions. Under the M’Naghten Rule test, the criminal defendant must either not understand what he or she did, or be unable to distinguish right from wrong. The laws of your state will establish which of these four tests applies. The judge and jury agreed.įor federal crimes, the Hinckley case led to the passage of the Insanity Defense Reform Act, which requires that defendants prove the defense of insanity by clear and convincing evidence.Ĭurrently, states rely on four different tests to determine whether a defendant is legally insane. Truelock had been sent to an asylum, and Hadfield’s lawyer suggested that should Hadfield be found not guilty, the King would remain out of harm’s way by committing Hadfield to the same fate. Hadfield believed that he was ordained to die as Christ did. When James Hadfield was tried for the attempted assassination of British monarch George III, he argued that Bannister Truelock had convinced him that the second coming of Christ and the dissolution of mankind were upon them (perhaps influenced by the French Revolution). Ironically, the defense regarded by some today as a great loophole evolved in 1800 to confine defendants found not guilty by reason of insanity in much the same way as those found guilty. Instead, defendants may be found “guilty, but insane” and sentenced to psychiatric institutionalization instead of prison. In Idaho, Kansas, Montana, and Utah, the defense of insanity was eliminated entirely. Many states shifted the burden of proof from the prosecutor to the defense, requiring defense attorneys to show by clear and convincing evidence or by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant was insane. Hinckley was acquitted of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan on the basis of an insanity defense, and this result caused many states to reform their insanity laws. Originally, most states required that, when a defendant asserted a defense of insanity, the prosecutor was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not insane. Since our criminal system generally requires that most defendants had some knowledge or intent when committing a criminal act, the insanity defense provides relief for those deemed incapable of forming such mental states. History of the Insanity Defense and the Burden of Proofįor several hundred years, the insanity defense has acted as a defense against criminal charges for a defendant who was incapable of understanding what he or she was doing, or in determining right from wrong. Instead, they are usually transferred into the custody of a psychiatric facility or other mental health institution, often for a longer period than defendants convicted and sent to prison for the same offense. ![]() Defendants found not guilty by reason of insanity are not simply released.
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