Gardenlady
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It's been an age since I took criminal law
but here are a couple of articles I found to refamiliarize myself with the insanity defense:
Evolution of the Insanity Defense: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleyinsanity.htm
Crime of Insanity: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/trial/history.html
Insanity, in a defense context, does not necessarily mean what we think of when we use the term in the vernacular - psychotic, or delusional, although that can apply. In a defense context, it can include being mentally ill, or having a mental defect, that makes them unable to make voluntary or rational decisions.
I'll be interested to see what specifically they are going to argue, as far as mental illness. Is battered person syndrome a fully recognized mental condition, that could be argued under an insanity plea, does anyone know?
Evolution of the Insanity Defense: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleyinsanity.htm
Crime of Insanity: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/trial/history.html
Insanity, in a defense context, does not necessarily mean what we think of when we use the term in the vernacular - psychotic, or delusional, although that can apply. In a defense context, it can include being mentally ill, or having a mental defect, that makes them unable to make voluntary or rational decisions.
I'll be interested to see what specifically they are going to argue, as far as mental illness. Is battered person syndrome a fully recognized mental condition, that could be argued under an insanity plea, does anyone know?