Abusing the Insanity Defense

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“Couch suffers from “affluenza,” according to his lawyer. Which means that his wealthy parents pretty much let him get away with everything,” explains the Time article (Grey). In 2013 Keller, Texas a sixteen year old teen Ethan Couch, was driving drunk, passed the speed limit and crashed, causing four innocent deaths. Judge Jean Boyd, was going to give him 20 years in states custody but Couch’s attorney told Judge Jean Boyd, Couch did not know the difference from right or wrong and was able to convince Judge Boyd to only give him 10 years in rehab; in which the parents were willing to pay 450,000 a year for treatment. The rehab center was like a spa or a 10 years vacation. Many people are angry because they are abusing insanity defense and should be tested. Some people don’t care and just want freedom of thoughts. Although insanity defense is sometimes abused, it is a justifiable alternative to prison. According to the article” The Durham rule was eventually rejected by the federal courts, because it cast too broad a net. Alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, and drug addicts had successfully used the defense to defeat a wide variety of crimes,”(Insanity) this shows how people would abuse the insanity defense to get out of a crime. There was this case where John Hinckley schizophrenia, and was charged of assault because he beat a stranger in the bus for no reason. John was explaining he was hearing voices that he could not control. He knew what he did was wrong, but his impulse was uncontrollable, and because of his problem he was not guilty. In 1843, an Englishman named Daniel M’Naghten killed Secretary British Minister. Daniel thought British minister was conspiring Daniel. The court put him in for Insanity Defense and was put in ... ... middle of paper ... ... on trial killed a loved, anybody would want that person in prison. Even though it hurts to see a family member suffer people have to do the right thing. Works Cited “The brain in the stand.” New York Times Magazine. 11 Mar. 2007 elibrary. Web. 02 apr. 2014. “Insanity Defense.” Law. Cornell.edu. Cornell university law. Web. 1 Apr.2014. “A Prospective of Four Insanity Defense Standards.” The National Center for Biotechnology Information. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Jan 1991. Web. 14 Apr.2014. Reuters, Thomas. “Model Penal Code Test for Legal Insanity.” Findlaw.com. Web. 14 Apr 2014. Grey, Madison. “The Affluenza defense: Judge rules Rich Kid’s Rich Kid-ness makes him Not Liable for Deadly Drunk Driving Accident”. Time.com. Web. 1 may 2014. ‘The Fourth and Fifth Amendment of the U.S Constitution Bill of Rights” Codeenforcementhelp.com. Web. 1 May 2014

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