The Insanity Defense

Part I of Essay
refers to that branch of the concept of insanity which defines the extent to which men accused of crimes may be relieved of criminal responsibility by virtue of mental disease. The terms of such a defense are to be found in the instructions presented by the trial judge ....

Part II of Essay
.... well as others which will be mentioned later, lead us to the conclusion that is useless and should be abolished entirely. The major difficulty with a theory such as mental illness is that it is just that, a theory. To scientists theories are a way of life, but applied to the concept of law theories become somewhat dangerous. By applying a loose theory such as mental illness to law we are in essence throwing the monkey wrench into the wheels of justice. According to the laws of insanity, a person is basically insane if he or she is unabl ....