Pleading Insane In The Court Room Essay, Research Paper

How can a person commit a serious crime and be found not guilty? This question can be answered with one word, insanity. If you were to look up the word insanity in the Webster dictionary, it would state: crazy, not legally responsible for one s actions. In some court cases today defendants are pleading not guilty do to insanity. The court is excepting this because as the definition say s they where not responsible for their actions. Because of this one word, and it s meaning, killers, rapists, and other criminals are not getting sentenced to jail time, but are being sent to mental hospitals.

Many people may feel that there is nothing wrong with letting criminals off, as long as they seek mental help. I on the other hand, feel that pleading not guilty do to insanity, should not be allowed as a defense under any surcomestances. I feel this way because a person can be realesed from the mental institute once they have shown that they are well. I feel that a person who commited a serious crime should never be allowed freedom again. They commited a crime once, they should not be allowed another chance to commit another crime. After a person is found not guilty by reasons of insanity, they are confined for treatment in mental hospitals for severly mentally ill persons, who have commited crimes.

This may seem fine because the crimminal will be off the streets, but after a period of time, the person may request a hearing about their mental health. This hearing will determine if he or she is no longer in danger to self or others and is therefore eligible to be relased (The insanity). This means a murder, a rapist, or any crimminal, could be released out into the world! Even though they say that these people are mentally stable, who knows for sure? I feel that the court is jeperdizing our lives every time criminals are released because they seem to be mentally stable.

John Hinckley, tried to assasin Ronald Regan, Theodore Kaczynski, the unabomber, Stephanie Wernick, killed her new born, and Barry Loukaitis who shot his class mates are just some criminals who have pleaded innocent do to insanity. I feel that these people commited serious crimes and should never be allowed to be free again. John Hinckley is known as one of the country’s most notorious mental patients. He was a crazed gunman who wounded President Ronald Reagan and crippled press secretary James Brady outside a Washington hotel in 1981. He called the shooting, which wounded two others, an effort to impress Jody Foster. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to St. Elizabeths Hospital.

Hinckley, on January 15, 1999 won the right to occasionally leave the mental hospital as a step toward possibly being released for good (Hinkley). I feel that there is a problem here. The problem being that in 1998 he was denied freedom after an appeals court stated that he had an infatuation with a mental hospital pharmacist that was strikingly similar to his fixation on Foster (Hinkley). And now only a year later he is said to be mentaly stable enough to occasionaly leave the hospital and soon may be released for good. In my eye s I feel that Hinckley is mentally ill and should never be allowed to be free.

If not guilty do to insanity was not allowed in court rooms, then people like John Hickley would be prosecuted and sentenced to jail or even given the death penalty. But because this law is still in effect people like John Hickley who once commited a serious crime, are free again to commit another, maybe even more, serious crime.