Insanity Alert - Insanity Alert 2014

A few states don't allow the insanity defense against criminal charges, including Idaho, Kansas, Montana, and Utah. Three of these states, with the exception of Kansas, allow \"guilty but insane\" verdicts, which often provide for institutionalization in lieu of prison. Most states that recognize legal insanity use either the M'Naghten Rule (sometimes in combination with the irresistible impulse test) or the ALI-MPC. Only New Hampshire uses the Durham standard. MHA favors the ALI-MPC version of the insanity defense.

Section 4.01 of the ALI-MPC,5 provides a comprehensive insanity defense. Section 4.01 of the MPC remains substantially unchanged from when it was initially drafted in 1962 and currently provides as follows:

The ALI-MPC and the vast majority of states place the burden of proving insanity on the defendant. The standard of proof varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.8 The defense should have the burden of introducing evidence of cognitive or volitional non-responsibility. In accordance with the ALI-MPC insanity defense, the prosecution should then, in addition to proving beyond a reasonable doubt that an individual committed the crime in question, also have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant was not insane.9

While, unlike a guilty plea, a finding of NGRI is not a conviction and should not result in punishment, it often has substantial long-term consequences. People found not guilty by reason of insanity will often be confined longer than they would have been had they been found guilty.12 The conditions of their confinement will also be quite restrictive. It is not clear that most persons with serious mental illnesses will be safer and receive better care in a mental hospital than in a prison, where they probably will be segregated from the general prison environment. The treatment and confinement environment is what counts, not the label. Thus, respect for individual autonomy requires that the court have a dialogue with the defendant to establish that an NGRI plea represents an informed and free choice between difficult-to-predict confinement and treatment options.

The likely length of confinement after an NGRI verdict, the likely treatment to be received, and the likely conditions of confinement are critical factors in deciding whether or not to invoke the insanity defense. Just as courts must ensure that defendants are competent to plead guilty and are aware of the consequences, so too should courts ensure that defendants are competent to plead NGRI and are informed about the likely consequences of the plea.13

MHA recommends that juries be instructed on the consequences of a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity. Currently, most jurisdictions to not mandate that juries be instructed about the effects of an insanity acquittal. The ABA Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards14 recommend that juries be fully instructed in order to level the playing field between different verdicts. Most people are aware of the broad consequences of a criminal guilty verdict and a not guilty verdict. But the consequences of an insanity acquittal are varied and complicated. The average person is not aware of the effects of an NGRI acquittal, and therefore may make a decision based on community safety without being aware that most NGRI acquittees are usually hospitalized. While juries do not need to know the specifics of the hospitalization, knowing that acquittees will not be released until they are no longer a danger to themselves or others can help juries make the best decision based on the facts.

In U.S. v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012),15 the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional for states to confine insanity acquittees in a mental health facility for periods longer than they would have been imprisoned had they been found guilty of the crime.16 But this still routinely occurs.17 Setting special release conditions and retaining criminal justice supervision are violations of the fundamental premise of the insanity defense, which is that confinement after an NGRI acquittal is appropriate only for as long as the additional period of confinement is clinically justified and serves a valuable rehabilitative purpose, in accordance with civil commitment laws, outside the criminal justice system. MHA advocates that insanity acquittees be released as soon as a professional assessment shows they have no serious mental illness that makes them dangerous to themselves or others. NGRI acquittees cannot be presumed to be dangerous or subject to ongoing mental illness under Foucha v. Louisiana (1992)18 and must be released after they are no longer mentally ill AND dangerous to self or others.

Despite public fears, defendants do not abuse the insanity defense. In felony cases, the defense is invoked less than 1% of the time, and even when it is employed, it is only successful 25% of the time. Further, in approximately 70% of the cases in which the defense has been successfully employed, the prosecution and defense have agreed on the appropriateness of the insanity plea before the trial.21 Thus, a contested NGRI plea is a long shot. Finally, even after Foucha, there is a high likelihood of court-mandated confinement and involuntary treatment following an insanity acquittal, often lasting a substantial length of time, which serves protect the public from defendants who may be dangerous and also to discourage people from inappropriately using the defense.22 These realities all refute public suspicion that the insanity defense creates a loophole to avoid deserved criminal liability, especially in notorious death penalty cases, like the attempted assassination of President Reagan (where an NGRI defense prevailed) or the subsequent Aurora, CO theater shooting (where it did not).

The insanity defense is under-utilized due to the general failure to fully fund criminal defense lawyers for persons who are indigent. Over-worked and under-paid public defenders may not have the time, or sometimes the training, which would lead them to fully investigate whether an insanity defense is warranted and may lack the resources to retain a mental health expert whose opinion is essential to support the defense.

MHA strongly opposes the popular, scientifically-unfounded belief that mental illness predisposes a person to act violently. See MHA Position Statement 72, Violence: Community Mental Health Response,28 Thus, restricting the insanity defense would not enhance public safety.

Viewed in light of ALI-MPC 4.01, 4.02 indicates that mens rea and diminished capacity defenses are to be available independently of the insanity defense. 4.02(2) provides a diminished capacity defense only in capital cases. While this formulation is more protective than the current law in the vast majority of states, the diminished capacity defense should not be limited to capital cases. A broader, but still sufficiently limited, defense would allow diminished capacity mitigation in all specific intent crimes, not only in capital crimes.

Idaho, Montana and Utah allow \"guilty but insane\" verdicts, which provide for institutionalization in lieu of prison, and, as noted above, Kansas law also permits, but does not require, this result. Most states that recognize legal insanity use either the M'Naghten Rule (sometimes in combination with the irresistible impulse test) or the ALI-MPC. Only New Hampshire uses the Durham standard. MHA favors the ALI-MPC version of the insanity defense.

24 State Court Organization, The Defense of Insanity: Standards and Procedures. Department of Justice. Table 35, 209-212 (2004). Available at ; Lillienfeld, Scott and Hal Arkowitz. The Insanity Verdict on Trial, Scientific American, Dec. 23, 2010, -insanity-verdict-on-trial/

Next week the justices will return to the bench for the first time since the end of June. The new term is already full of interesting cases, including the very first one on Monday, October 7: Kahler v. Kansas, in which the Supreme Court will consider whether the Constitution allows a state to abolish the insanity defense.

In his brief on the merits, Kahler contends that it has long been established that a mentally ill person who commits a crime without understanding that his actions are wrong is not morally responsible for those actions and therefore should not be held criminally responsible. The importance of this rule, he suggests, can be seen in the fact that, until 1979, every jurisdiction in the United States allowed an insanity defense. Today, he continues, 45 states, the federal government, the U.S. military and the District of Columbia all allow a mentally ill defendant to assert an insanity defense.

This will then show you the alert history for just this target. Now the first thing you are going to want to do is get a solid view of the history. The default view is for the last 24hrs. In the upper right hand corner, change the view so that it displays the last 31 days:

For example, in the B1G, Kevin Wilson keeps his job going 4-8 while Bo Pelini loses his going 9-3. One of the coaches in the Championship game was apparently packing his office before kickoff which probably explains the result. The champion Buckeyes had their season savior assault his pregnant ex-girlfriend while nursing a broken ankle. Who feels good about any of this Is this really the goal of any school It's hard not to look at the MAC and their midweek games and not be a little bit nostalgic about the simpler pace of their programs. The insane amount of money big time programs generate has generated insanity from the university president's all the way down to the fans. Maybe being on the outside of that club is not a bad thing. 781b155fdc