A significant and controversial issue within the legal system is the ‘insanity defense’ in which during a criminal trial, the defendant will make a claim that they are not guilty by reason of insanity, or in other words, they have deficient and impaired cognitive and mental capabilities. These mental health problems associated with insanity are caused by psychopathological disorders, which may have led to their dysfunction. What separates this from a regular plead of ‘diminished capacity’ is that a plea of insanity is a full defense rather than just a partial defense (Legal information institute, n.d.). With the diminished capacity defense, the defendant’s mental competence is still the focus, although they are pleading to a lesser crime instead of insisting that they are innocent. Thus, it becomes a mitigating factor. Under section 16 of the ‘Criminal Code of Canada’, for a plea of insanity to be realized, the accused, as a result of their mental disorder, must not have been able to recognize the wrongfulness of their actions during the time of the crime (Pilon, 2002).If the defendant suffers from a mental disorder and was unable to distinguish between right or wrong during the crime, then they are not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder. This law involving mental illnesses mirrors the McNaughton rule which is adopted in almost half of the states in the United States and in the United Kingdom. The McNaughton rule presumes the sanity of the accused, unless proven that they were unable to appreciate the nature and quality of their criminal act (Legal information institute, n.d.). Although the Criminal Code with respect to mental illnesses appears straightforward enough, there are noteworthy disorders that have spawn... ... middle of paper ... ...43-996 Nakic, M., & Thomas, P. (2012). Dissociative identity disorder in the courtroom. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 40(1), 146-148. Pilon, M. (2002). Mental disorder and Canadian criminal law. Government of Canada, Law and Government Division. Putnam, F. (1989). Diagnosis and treatment of multiple personality disorder. New York, Guilford Press. Ross, C. A. (1997). Dissociative identity disorder: diagnosis, clinical features, and treatment of multiple personality. New York: Wiley. Saks, E. R., Olmos, M. F., Murphy, J. M. (2000). Jekyll on trial: multiple personality disorder and criminal law. New York University Press Steinberg, M., Bancroft, J., & Buchanan J. (1993). Multiple personality disorder in criminal law. The Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 21(3), 345-356. Stone, M. (1984). Proof of fact in criminal
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2012). Forensic and Legal Psychology: Psychological Science Applied to Law. New York: Worth Publishers.
Lewis, John. "Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System."Pathways2promise.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2014.
In many criminal cases it is hard to believe that the defendant has multiple personalities because the defendant could be trying to deceive the jury. Statistics have proven that people with Multiple Personality Disorder usually refer to other personalities as “I.” A perfect example is Kenneth Bianchi who was on trial for murder and convinced his attorney that he had multiple personalities inside. Bianchi had the jury almost convinced that Steve Walker, Bianchi’s other personality, was responsible for the murders. Bianchi’s defense showed the first sign of unraveling when he started to refer to Steve Walker as “he” instead of “I.” Dr. Marti Torne, an authority in hypnosis, tested Bianchi. According to Dr. Torne, a person suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder will house three or more personalities. Bianchi failed this hypnosis test because he only presented two personalities. After Bianchi’s testimony, Bianchi started to make up a new personality, named Billy. However, the jury remained suspicious, and eventually Kenneth Bianchi was found guilty. In effect, his defense, depending on a claim of Multiple Personality Disorder, was deemed unconvincing. Kenneth Bianchi almost got away with murder.
There are a wide range of problems that are considered psychological disorders; these include mental or emotional disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and some disorders that involve emotional and physical symptoms. These types of disorders usually occur during childhood, but during teenage years there is a steep increase in the number of people affected by them. Approximately 20% of the population will struggle with a type of mental disorder at some point in their life. (Bayer, 2000)
Much of my skepticism over the insanity defense is how this act of crime has been shifted from a medical condition to coming under legal governance. The word "insane" is now a legal term. A nuerological illness described by doctors and psychiatrists to a jury may explain a person's reason and behavior. It however seldom excuses it. The most widely known rule in...
McGrath, Michael G. "Criminal Profiling: Is There a Role for the Forensic Psychiatrist?." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 28. (2000): 315-324. Web. 13 Apr 2011.
...res of the psychopaths and gives the reader various examples of these individuals playing out these characteristics in everyday life. A widely used checklist is provided so the reader can get a wide spanning view of what is accounted for when scoring a psychopath. This form of research is very important within the deceitfulness of this population; it allows the professional to ignore their words and examine their actions. Hare made it clear that it is not uncommon for there to be an emotional and verbal disconnect from their actions. With virtually no emotional functioning psychopaths feel no remorse for the offenses that they commit and it is very important that we work towards using the opportunities we have to study and assist these populations; not only for them but for ourselves.
Miller, Laurence. "The predator's brain: Neuropsychodynamics of serial killers."Serial offenders: Current thought, recent findings, unusual syndromes (2000): 135-166.
Dissociative identity disorder or DID for short, was previously referred to as multiple personality disorder. DID is a dissociative disorder involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personalities or identities, control an individual's behavior at different times (National Alliance of Mental Illness). Meaning, that the person with DID has to have more than one separate identity that “inhabits” them for a period of time.
Simons, C. (2001). Antisocial personality disorder in serial killers: The thrill of the kill. The Justice Professional, 14(4), 345-356.
My topic of choice for this research paper is Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID. This appellation is rather new; therefore, most are more familiar with the disorder's older, less technical name: Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD. When first presented with the task of selecting a topic on which to center this paper, I immediately dismissed Dissociative Identity Disorder (which for the sake of brevity will be referred to as DID for the remainder of this paper) as a viable topic due to the sheer scope of the disorder. However after an exhaustive examination of other prospective topics, I found myself back at my original choice. There are several reasons why I chose DID. The foremost of which is the widespread fascination of this disorder by many different types of people; most of whom otherwise have no interest in psychology or its associated fields. One would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t been captivated at one time or another by the extraordinary, all too well known symptoms of this disorder. This fascination… dare I say ‘allure’ to this disorder is exemplified by the myriad of motion pictures that have been produced based on cases, real or fictitious, of DID. Another reason for my choice is what I feel is the insufficiency of effective treatments for DID. Despite what is known about this disorder, (which is relatively a lot) there are only two chief treatments for DID; the first and most prevalent is psychotherapy; also known as ”talk therapy”, the second is medication. The third and final reason for my choice is my own enchantment with DID. I must admit that ever since I read about Sue Tinker, a woman who was diagnosed with over 200 different personalities. In writing this paper I hope to discover more about this disorder and perhaps be able to identify a few areas that I feel might require more research on the part of psychologists specializing in DID.
Traub, C. M. (2009). Defending a diagnostic pariah: validating the categorisation of Dissociative Identity Disorder. South African Journal of Psychology, 39(3), 347-356.
Greenfield, D. (2007). Introduction to forensic psychology. issues and controversies in crime and justice. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 35(2), 201-201-204,105-106.
It is apparent that insanity, automatism and diminished responsibility share similarities and differences in their range of application and in definition. Insanity and automatism are most similar in that they both are full defences (with different outcomes) which exist when a defendant does not have the necessary actus reus or mens rea, whereas diminished responsibility is a partial defence which only applies to murder. The source of the defendant’s mental abnormality is the greatest point of distinction between all of the defences. Whether the abnormality is internal, external or a diagnosed medical condition will play a significant role in which defence can be used. As defences they are all used for a similar reason, and that is to eliminate or reduce liability for criminal offences.
Even though having dissociative identity disorder may seem very aberrant and deranged, studies mostly fosters the ideology of multiple personality disorder as effective coping mechanism that benefits the patient in a positive way and ensures the safety of their own insankity.