mtnlites
President of the Imaginary Friends' Club
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2014
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Anti social personality disorder is just that, a personality disorder. It is not mental illness that can be used as a defense. I see no signs in JP that he is mentally ill or mentally deficient. Those defenses will NOT be successful. However, if the public defender is hinting that they will try it, so be it. At this point, the prosecutor needs to proceed with the case. I am getting the feeling that this WILL go to trial.
The Model Penal Code which is the most popular insanity test doesn't currently recognize antisocial personality disorder (as per the criteria of the criteria of the DSMIV) so it isn't usually used as an insanity defense. However, this can vary by jurisdiction (Oklahoma, for instance, passed a law excluding ASD from an insanity defense) and it's a very complex issue with quite a few recent studies and examples that serve only to make the subject muddier. In addition, it can be presented along with a co-morbidity.
Still, it has not been reported whether JP has any kind of mental illness, personality disorder, or any medical condition at ALL so at this point it's all just speculation anyway. It's an interesting topic, we could go back and forth on it all day, but it would steer the conversation way off topic considering that any disorder or illness he has would just be our own conjecture (based on our own experiences and professional expertise) and we have no idea which way his attorneys are even leaning. More than likely, an actual trial-if there is one-is years away.