NGRI

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore NGRI. NGRI can be defined as “not guilty by reason of insanity”. The core objective of this paper is to explore diverse dimensions of NGRI. In addition, the paper explains how NGRI regulates within the boundaries of the legislation. The paper illustrates the use and misuse of NGRI in different scenarios. Moreover, the paper defines how attorneys assist the culpable to fake their insanity in order to flee from punishment. The paper also focuses on the statement that whether NGRI can be faked or not. This would assist the lawmakers to formulate effective policies to cope with this situation.

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Introduction

The verdict NGRI verdict is a conviction that recognizes the defendant's mental illness. However, because the defendant is held criminally responsible, a NGRI verdict allows for the incarceration, not just civil commitment, of mentally ill offenders. NGRI offenders can be sentenced to prison and incarcerated for the duration of their sentences, even if they no longer present a danger to others (Bonnie, Poythress, Hoge, Monahan, Eisenberg, 1996, 91). Defendants convicted upon a NGRI verdict may spend a portion of their sentence in a psychiatric facility and/or receive treatment in a correctional institution.

Proponents of NGRI laws believe they reduce the number of unjustified insanity acquittals and protect the public through the incarceration of dangerous individuals (Linhorst, Hamilton, Young, Eckert, 2002, 105). The NGRI verdict also allows juries to recognize that the mental illness of the defendant psychological needs treatment, but not so serious as to negate criminal responsibility (Linhorst, Hamilton, Young, Eckert, 2002, 107). In the NGRI verdict, the defendant argues that he or she cannot be held legally responsible for the felonious act because a mental illness or disorder has robbed the person of legal capacity to do certain acts (Baskin, Edersheim, Price, 2007, 116).

Thesis Statement

There is an increase in number of people that fake the verdict of NGRI in order to flee from the legislative punishment. This phenomenon is directly proportional to the enhancement in crime rate as the criminals in association with their attorneys fake their mental sickness in order to evade the legal punishment for their crimes.

Discussion and Analysis

The Use of NGRI

According to various studies, the use of NGRI is observable in different scenarios. The legislation named as NGRI is the most effective way of treating the mentally ill culprits. There are several scenarios in which the NGRI is effective; the mentally ill people do not have control over their actions. Hence, it can be interpreted that the crime executed by them was not according to their will.

The criminal culpable for a planned crime must be punished. Nevertheless, a mentally unbalanced culprit should not be punished; moreover, the culprit requires medical attention not the punishment by the court of law (Baskin, Edersheim, Price, 2007, 120). In these situations, the court of law announced the medical treatment for the culprits. This is the effective approach for increasing the number of law-abiding ...