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It is actually used quite often and it is almost never successful. The McNaughten Rule, the basis for any insanity defense, states that a person cannot be held accountable if they were so insane at the time of the crime that they didn't know right from wrong. The reason it is almost never successful is because most people that are that insane may hurt themselves but rarely harm others. Or they are institutionalized long before they can hurt someone else.

Of course there are always exceptions. Andrea Yates, the Texas housewife that drowned all 5 of her young children in the bathtub is one of the rare exceptions mentioned. There is also an 'insane by guilty' catagory. You can be insane but still make a rational decision to kill another. Sometimes this is the case. But for the most part, the insanity defense is a defense attorney's last resort.

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15y ago

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Related Questions

How often is voluntary intoxication or drugs use the basis for the successful assertion of the insanity defense?

Voluntary intoxication or drug use is almost never the basis for the successful assertion of the insanity defense. However, in most states the defendant's intoxication or drug use may serve as the basis for a claim for diminished capacity.


Is voluntary intoxication can be used as a successful defense under some circumstances?

Voluntary intoxication or drug use is almost never the basis for the successful assertion of the insanity defense. However, in most states the defendant's intoxication or drug use may serve as the basis for a claim for diminished capacity.


Is fair use a defense to copyright infringement?

Yes. Fair use is known as an affirmative defense, which basically means you're saying "yes, I did do that, but..." Insanity is also an affirmative defense.


Why is the insanity defense bad?

The insanity defense is alright as long as it is not used in just any case situation involving a murder. An insanity defense may allow a defendant who is mentally competent and has no history of mental illness to fake a specific mental disorder like Dissociative Identity Disorder (like in a Law & Order SVU episode titled "Alternate") and use it as a way to plead "not guilty by reason of insanity."


Why doesn't everyone who is accused of a criminal act use criminal insanity as a defense?

Because not everyone is crazy. As an affirmative defense you have to prove that you are. This is difficuit and expensive to do, and juries are, by-and-large, not sympathetic to this defense.


How do you use common defense in a sentence?

i just used common defense in a sentence


Why doesn't everyone who is accused of a criminal act use criminal insanity as a defenses?

Because not everyone is crazy. As an affirmative defense you have to prove that you are. This is difficuit and expensive to do, and juries are, by-and-large, not sympathetic to this defense.


How do you use insanity in a sentence?

it was a mark of insanity


Can someone be found guilty of a crime if they are temporarily insane?

Most states allow a verdict of 'guilty but insane'. Temporary insanity is recognized in some states as a defense or as a mitigating factor in sentencing. A typical usage would be, for example, a woman opens her bedroom door to find her husband with a naked lady in bed with him. She shoots them dead. Temporary insanity might be attempted as a defense in California. The temporary insanity argument is not evenly applied; it is not for amateurs.Added; As a practical matter, the "insanity defense" is difficult and expensive in both time and money for the defendant to 'prove.' In this instance the burden falls on the defendant to convince the jury that they WERE temporarily insane at the time they committed the offense, NOT on the prosecution to prove that they weren't. The costs associated with medical and psychiatric examinations, diagnoses, and expert testimony, is a high barrier to its use as a successful defense, and juries are HIGHLY skeptical of such pleas.


How many US States use the M'Naghten Rule?

Of the 47 states that permit an insanity defense, 21 employ the M'Naghten test as formulated at common law. 6 others use some elements of M'Naghten, but have modified it in some way (often by adding the irresistible impulse test).


What artifacts are related to defense?

use your common sense


Can mental defect be use as an defense in a arson case?

Sure, if you and your lawyer want to go that route. The more important question is,can that defense be successful.

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