Insanity Defense vs. Competency to Stand Trial

Insanity Defense

Insanity defense is procedure where a defendant in the criminal proceedings claims that he or she is not responsible for their actions as they are not in a healthy state of mind and are suffering from mental psychiatric problems. The term legal insanity has numerous definitions as per the M'Naghten Rules, the Durham rule, defining American Law Institute, and various sundries.

There is a rare use of this procedure , however, since the enactment of Criminal Procedure Act 1991, the number of insanity pleas have increased steadily in the U.S. Mitigating factors, such things are ...