Insanity Defense Persuasive Essays

* Does my conclusion wrap up my argument in an effective way?You will craft your closing arguments as a persuasive speech to be delivered to the judge and jury in her murder trial.* SPEECHES WILL BE DELIVERED ON FRIDAY AND MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9 AND 12.* Your Role: Defense Attorney for Mary Maloney .* 100 POINTS and 10 bonus points will be awarded to the closing argument deemed most effective by the class!

There is a difference between justification defense and an excusable defense.This was the first case seen with the defense of insanity.The legal defense of infancy is a form of defense known as an excuse so that defendants falling within the definition of an infant are excluded from criminal liability for their actions, if at the time they have not reached an age of criminal responsibility.Defendants claiming insanity plead that they are not to be held responsible for their actions.To determine pure insanity of a defendant, certain rules are followed such as M’Naghten’s Rules and a right and wrong test is administered because insanity is an affirmative defense.

Presumptions and Inferences… .Burden of persuasion aka burden of proof is the obligation of a party to prove a fact to a certain level, either by a reasonable doubt, by preponderance of evidence or by clear and convincing evidence.Presumption of sanity requires that all defendants be presumed sane unless sufficient evidence of their insanity is proven.The adversary system, the burden is on the prosecution to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and the defense attorney is responsible for arguing the defendants innocence.Inferences are permissive; they are conclusions or deductions of the trier-of-fact may reasonably make based on the facts that have been established by evidence.

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The Insanity Defense: A Closer Look.Nevertheless critics who advocate for the insanity defense are quick to point out that the public is generally misled concerning the insanity defense (Golding, 1989).Excusing the Crazy: The Insanity Defense Reconsidered.The Moral Basis of the Insanity Defense.There are various forms of insanity defense the most common being cognitive insanity.

The insanity defense: a closer look [electronic version].Insanity as a criminal defense.“Further evidence that the Court may not find the insanity defense to be an essential aspect of criminal liability comes from its treatment of the burden of proof relating to the defense” (Slobogin, 1998).Since the insanity defense is not intended to be a medical definition of a mental incapacity, loads of controversies and criticisms have arisen over the legal criteria that courts should apply in determining whether a person should be acquitted on the basis of insanity.Does the insanity defense have a legitimate .

As the US justice system progressed, it also made several adjustments when it comes to handling the insanity defense, developments which either complimented/helped or countered the insanity defense.More than a century later, the isolation of the cases wherein insanity is involved and the eventual development of the insanity defense started with the creation of the Criminal Lunatics Act of 1800 which was ratified in the United Kingdom.Because of how easily it seems that Hinckley got away because of the loose ends the insanity defense manages to exploit, the changes in the law (Title 18, U. S. Code, Section 17) now requires those who will use the insanity defense to be able to prove convincingly that he or she is really severely insane (Th...

The insanity defense is a criminal defense that is used when the defendant’s case states that the crime occurred because the defendant had a severe mental disease or defect and was unable to apprehend the wrongfulness of his or her acts.“Supreme Court: Arizona Insanity Defense Law Upheld.” Facts On File World News Digest 29 June 2006.Critics of not guilty by reason of insanity have claimed that too many sane defendants use the insanity defense to escape justice; that the state of psychological knowledge encourages expensive “dueling expert” contests that juries are unlikely to understand; that, in practice, the defense unfairly excludes some defendants.“Insanity Defense”.There are 51 different types of insanity defenses in the United Sta...

Legal system needs to rethink insanity, related defense ploys.Whens someone commits a crime in today’s society he or she may use mental illness as a defense, know as insanity plea or insanity defense (Dubsinki 1986).Insanity Defense.An example would be if shoplifter was charged for his or her crime and uses the insanity plea as a defense saying they weren’t in touch with reality, we would give that person a reduced sentence.Debating the Insanity Defense.

It is also endeavoured that a comparison with the tests of insanity be compared with other jurisdictions in order to grasp the elusive concept of the term insanity... Self-induced insanity is a distinct strain of insanity which should not be used as a viable defense against criminal liability... Self-induced insanity is a subset of insanity not within the protective mantle of the concept of “absolute defense”.The significance of this study is to remove the protective mantle of the absolute defense of insanity in cases where mental defects and diseases are procured due to the use of illegal substances which impair the rational thinking of an individual so as to exploit the gray area in our Criminal Law and to provide an analytical frame...

At present, all states except for three ( Montana, Utah and Idaho which scrapped the insanity defense in its entirety) enacted the M’Naughten rule with modifications centered on the burden of insanity proof on the defendant.Examining the success of using the insanity defense in this modern time, Chiacchia ( 2001 ) eported ( “ Insanity defense statistics, 2nd paragraph) that: Successful NGRI defenses are rare.A number of celebrated cases involving rich families and big political figures as victims in the past three centuries resulted to acquittal of the defendants in the light of the different legal interpretation of insanity defense among states.The acquittal of John Hinckley, Jr. who shot then U. S. President Reagan and killed his press...

Offenders seem to have the knowledge to the use of this defense and will often provide a plea to guilty by insanity or temporary insanity, within the faith, to receive a reduced sentence.It also is believed, people who have less monetary funds and depend on the defense of a public defender, will not receive the same quality of defense, and they are also unable to receive the same value within the insanity exam.Such critic is based on the suggestion, that the insanity defense should be eliminated.Everyone has different sentiments, within the use of the insanity defense and the successfulness of such validation.Identify and discuss the major criticisms of the insanity defense.

The Act also contained the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984, 18 U.S.C.The insanity defense reflects a compromise on the part of society and the law.In the 18th century, the legal standards for the insanity defense were varied.One of the most famous recent uses of the insanity defense came in United States v. Hinckley, concerning the assassination attempt against then-President Ronald Reagan.The most fundamental of these is that, while “reason of insanity” is a full defense to a crime — that is, pleading “reason of insanity” is the equivalent of pleading “not guilty” — “diminished capacity” is merely pleading to a lesser crime.

20 Oct. 2004 .The insanity plea is therefore hardly .Most studies show that in approximately 80 percent of the cases where a defendant is acquitted on a “not guilty by reason of insanity” finding……….Other studies over the past two decades report similar findings.This (Insanity Defense) is an endeavor to place in morality into our so called perfect law because there is no perfect test to know if the acclaimed criminal is insane or not.According to Myths and Realities: A Report of the National Commission on the Insanity Defense, in 1982 only 52 of 32,000 adult defendants represented by the Public Defender’s office in New Jersey–less than two tenths of one percent–entered the insanity plea, and only 15 were successful.A similar number of in...

However, when It came down to the trial, Guiteaus attorney pushed for the insanity dodge.What about the families of the victims who have been raped, murdered, or beaten; what justice are they served if their attacker is let to walk free or spend time in a mental institution Many others who are for the insanity defense believe it is unfair to punish a person when they are not aware of the crime they have committed.It is also debated that the insanity defense helps the mentally ill find help in hospitals, and receive the care that they need.One of the many issues that trouble the American Justice System today is that of the insanity defense.One case in which the inconsistency of the insanity defense is apparent is in that of the assassinat...

This is a great fear behind the insanity defense because many non-guilty verdicts have set the violent offender free and he committed another violent crime.Most of the testimonies given in court when there is an insanity defense is being used, are given by medical doctors and psychologists.In the majority of criminal cases, especially murder trials, the insanity plea is merely a defense strategy aimed at delivering guilty defendants from the death penalty or serving time in prison.If not, irresponsible and immoral criminals will abuse use of the insanity defense.Crimes will continue to take place each and every day and there will be times that the insanity defense will become a way out for those who have committed the crime.

The justification of self-defense is based on the defense that the defendant has the right to protect themselves as well as family from harm, such as robbery or rape.By applying a loose theory such as mental illness to law we are in essence throwing the proverbial "monkey wrench" into the wheels of justice.Insanity is a legal, not a medical definition.Therefore, mental illness and insanity are not the same: only some mental illness includes insanity.The public duty defense is another type of justificatio... ... middle of paper ... ...re are several problems with the insanity defense.

(Meyer & Grant, 2003) “Being insane at the time of one’s crime is a complete defense to crime.Insanity-his or her insanity at the time of a crime meant he or she could not rationally form mens rea to commit a criminal act.The three legal defenses I will be describing are insanity, self-defense, and mistake of fact.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Meyer, J. F., & Grant, D. R. (2003).

Ovid's metamorpheses........The claim of irresistible impulse is a defense in some jurisdictions.The Durham Rule, also known as the product rule, holds that an accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect.Because of the difficulties associated with assessing insanity from a legal perspective, a number of jurisdictions have eliminated the insanity defense.The insanity defense is not widely used, and is raised in only about 1% of all criminal cases .A guilty but mentally ill verdict (GBMI) establishes that a defendant, although mentally ill, was sufficiently in possession of his faculties to be morally blameworthy for his acts.

This woman had made a safety net within her mind so that she would not have to deal with the reality of being in an insane asylum, but in the end everything failed and it seems that what she had been protecting herself from finally conquered her.This caused all of her blocked out thoughts to swarm her mind and turn her completely insane.... middle of paper ... .This finally leads to her defense weakening until she is left with just madness and insanity.She evens states that she has a condition that signifies insanity, but the doctor would never tell her straight to her face that she was insane.

These examples include bandwagon, red herring, and reasons.Desire was thoughtcrime.A persuasive technique used in 1984 by the government was red herring.In 1984, author George Orwell uses multiple persuasive techniques to make citizens controlled by the government.Desire is thoughtcrime in ocean because it elevates the human, the individual, above powers of state to control them”.

The legal or persuasive burden of proof is defined as the ‘burden of persuading the tribunal of fact, to the standard of proof required and on the whole of the evidence, of the truth or sufficient probability of every essential fact in issue’.Therefore, ay be able to be applied in our case.Where the accused pleads one of the exceptions, insanity, he bears the persuasive burden which is discharged on a balance of probabilities.Building on that, the Court of Appeal in Turnbull provided guidance regarding disputed identification evidence and specified that a mistaken witness possible can be persuasive, but notice is required if the prosecution depends fully on the regularity of the identification of the defendant which the defense claims to...

The M’Naghten Rule defines insanity as the defendant suffering from “a defect of reason, from a disease of the mine”, and as a result, the defendant did not “know” the “nature and quality of the act that he was doing”, and as a result, the defendant did not know that “what he was doing was wrong” (Fulero and Wrightsman, 2009).John Hinckley’s verdict of Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity created a big commotion among the public.Competency to stand trial is a view that permits delay of a criminal proceeding for those individuals that are deemed incapable to partake in their defense due to a mental or a physical disorder (Roesch, 2004).The process to be deemed Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity is not easy, and therefore is not used frequently ...

Proper approaches should be made so that victims acquitted on grounds of mental impairment and insanity are taken care of so that they do not become a menace in the society and to themselves too.Many of the attitudes facing the defense on insanity can be termed as genuine but one wonders, for how long?Such releases have really led to a lot of heat and therefore mistrust towards the said defense and resulted to general bias of the defense (Feusch, 1980).Much efforts should be put in place in order to address the problem of dealing with mental impairment and insanity.The other reason is that, lack of accurate and correct information about such cases of insanity lead to criticism and negative reaction by the public.

The cases used PMS as a opener for the suspect to eventually plead temporary insanity.The studies that have been performed on women and their experiences with Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) have evolved into PMS being used as a defense in criminal cases.Several cases have applied PMS to a criminal defense and have been successful but the success came attached with mitigation to some form of insanity and as we all know, insanity is difficult to prove, not a frequently used defense and almost always raises some kind of controversy (Davidson, 2000).This information was presented by the defense to the judge who still decided to plea in favor of the defendant and the case ended with Santos getting probation.Those who have studied insanity have c...

This paper will focus on understanding the theory of commonsense justice, the view of jurors of commonsense justice versus the black-letter law, and comparing the outcomes of using these laws in resolving insanity and death penalty cases.Possibilities of exclusion of fault upon the raising of the insanity defense were suspected.The law that stipulates when insanity can amount to a defense was accepted only to the extent that the absence of mental control on the side of the defendant is not produced by his own default.The law holds that insanity can only be used as a defense if at the time of committing the crime; the defendant had a mental condition that impaired his cognitive abilities to the extent that the defendant was unaware of the...

“The Insanity of the Insanity Defense.” The Insanity of the Insanity Defense (1996).“Myth of the ‘Twinkie Defense'” Www.SFGate.com.Douglas Schmidt “Behind “the Twinkie Defense” [by Paul Krassner].DEFENSE: “The Twinkie Defense” as it became known, is synonymous with the trial of Dan White.If he ever strangles one of the people who says “Twinkie Defense” to him, Scherr said, it won’t be because he’s just eaten a Twinkie.

The shooter looking up the words “rational insanity,” shows that he looked at the potential consequences before he committed the crime.Luckily with modern technology investigators were able to find out all of the planning that went into this murder or the case could have ended up like a lot of cases where they plead insanity or something else that would give them a lesser sentence and in a way get away with murder.The Insanity Defense — Twinkies as a Defense — Crime Library on truTV.com.The main focus of his search history was “rational insanity”.Theater shooting suspect’s computer used to search “rational insanity” – The Denver Post.Colorado Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, Jobs – The Denver Post.

History will be checked, the bloodline of the family, past experiences, and other related tests to provide definite discussions at the legal process.That witness may give an opinion regarding defendant’s issue, providing to the court an independent opinion and arranged a detailed report before testifying.A forensic psychiatrist is frequently asked to be an expert witness in civil and criminal proceedings.Usually their platforms have developed reasoning of patient’s disorder.Medical transcription service for forensic psychiatry helps individual, physicians, and health centers transcribe the mental illness of the patient.

She compare the narrator to a professor at MIT, John Nash, who had schizophrenia but was able to develop one of the greatest theories that common day economic relies so heavily on.Zimmerman takes Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart”, in a an oratory form of a defense plea.Arts& Humanities Citation Index.Style 35.1 (n.d.): 34-49.He goes through the different steps in a defense statement and correlates each part to the story.