What is the insanity defense in criminal trials?
Q: What is the insanity defense in criminal trials?
A: The insanity defense is a claim that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to mental illness.
Q: Have people who have been determined to be insane historically been exempt from full criminal punishment?
A: Yes, people who have been determined to be insane have been exempt from full criminal punishment since the Code of Hammurabi.
Q: Are there different definitions of legal insanity across jurisdictions?
A: Yes, there are different definitions of legal insanity in different jurisdictions.
Q: What usually happens to defendants who are found to be insane?
A: Defendants who are found to be insane are usually confined in a mental health facility instead of a prison.
Q: Who was the first to use the insanity defense?
A: Daniel Sickles was the first to use the insanity defense in 1859 when he killed his wife's lover Francis Barton Key.
Q: Is the insanity defense commonly used in criminal trials today?
A: The frequency of successful use of the insanity defense has been decreasing steadily since the 1980s, but it is still used in some criminal trials today.
Q: What is the purpose of the insanity defense?
A: The purpose of the insanity defense is to recognize that some individuals with mental illness may not have the capacity to understand the consequences of their actions and therefore are not fully responsible for them.
