INSANITY DEFENSE

The Insanity Defense in Virginia and its Abuse

The Insanity Defense in Virginia and its Abuse

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore different dimensions of insanity defense. This paper aims to enlighten insanity defense, and its execution in Virginia. In addition, the paper analyzes different aspects of insanity defense in order to portray its fair or unethical use. In Virginia, people who are charged with crimes are permitted to plead not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). Several widely publicized insanity-defense cases have spurred those criticisms, and in some cases led to restrictions on the use of the insanity defense. One of the most notable cases involved John Hinckley Jr., who in 1982 was found NGRI of all charges he faced in his assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

The generally negative reaction to Hinckley's acquittal helped prompt Congress to pass the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984, a measure aimed at making it harder to prove an insanity defense. However, supporters of the insanity defense say that it is an essential protection for the mentally ill. It is crucial that the law continue to recognize that some people are too mentally ill to be held criminally responsible for their actions, supporters contend. They say that the legal community should handle such cases by obtaining psychiatric treatment for the defendants. In the vast majority of cases, defenders say, the insanity defense is used by people with genuine mental problems.

Statutes Involved

According to diverse sources, the criminal justice system has treated the mentally ill both protectively and punitively. The general pattern, experts say, is for the pendulum to swing slowly toward leniency until a mentally ill individual commits a notorious criminal act, like an assassination attempt, after which the laws are tightened again. The ALI standard, called the Moral Penal Code, says that 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 the law (Simon, Aaronson, 1988)." In other words, the code says that either an inability to distinguish right from wrong or an inability to resist urges brought on by the mental illness were grounds for an insanity defense.

By the 1970s, most states had accepted the ALI rule. However, that changed when John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan (R, 1981-89) in March 1981, in order to impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he was obsessed. Prior to Hinckley, most people viewed the insanity defense with equanimity, experts say. But after Hinckley was acquitted--because he was schizophrenic--many people hardened their attitude toward the insanity defense. The not guilty verdict created an outcry because many people said that Hinckley should have been dealt with more harshly (Simon, Aaronson, 1988). They said that a man who shoots the president--and there was no question that Hinckley had pulled the trigger--should go to jail, not a ...