Insanity_Plea

Insanity Plea When is a person is sane and who should be able to determine the sanity of the accused. The insanity plea is a defense that can be used when there is evidence that the defendant is guilty of a serious offense but not responsible because severe mental illness impaired their judgement and impulse control at the time of this offense. The insanity plea originated in the 1843 when Daniel McNaughtan attempted to assassinate British Prime Minister Robert Peel. Daniel McNaughtan killed Robert Peel’s secretary but was found not guilty by reason of insanity during the trial. Shortly after this trial the U.S.criminal justice system adopted the insanity plea, brought forth because of the McNaughtan decision. In 1981 the insanity defense plea was criticized harshly after John Hinckley Jr, attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. From this case the rule that you must be insane at the time the crime was committed in order to plead insanity was brought about. Many believed his premeditation of the crime was proof of his sanity. (Dolan 13-33) An insanity plea is a poor excuse for insanity, mental, guilty, defendant, court, plea, defense, found, time, crime, behavior, acquittee, risk, responsible, reason, offense, mentally, ill, because, trial, should, release, insane, illness, hospital, health, harmful, defendants, criminal, committed, accused, violent, violence, secure, robert