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The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a psychiatric disease at the time of the criminal act.
It rarely serves as a legal defense, meaning it does not stop the defendant from being guilty of the crime. It may however, lead to a lesser punishment. It may however, lead to a lesser punishment. In some common law legal systems, provocation is a " partial defense " for murder charges, which can result in the offense being classified as the ...
Diminished capacity is a partial defense to charges that require that the defendant act with a particular state of mind. [1] For example, if the felony murder rule does not apply, first degree murder requires that the state prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant acted with premeditation, deliberation, and the specific intent to kill—all three are necessary elements of the state's ...
The defense presented testimony from toxicology and pharmaceutical experts, but only one who offered an opinion on whether Reynolds was not guilty by reason of insanity. Defense psychologist ...
Per Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12.2, a defendant intending to pursue an insanity defense must timely notify an attorney for the government in writing. The government then has a right to have the court order a psychiatric or psychological examination.
The idea of insanity in English law dates from 1324, when the Statute de Praerogativa Regis allowed the King to take the lands of "idiots and lunatics." The early law used various words, including "idiot", "fool" and "sot" to refer to those who had been insane since birth, [2] and "lunatic" for those who had later become insane, or were insane with some lucid intervals. [3]
The state presumes that defendants are competent, requiring defendant to give proof or advance notice to raise the insanity defense. The five tests for insanity are: M'Naghten test shows that the defendant (1) did not know the nature and quality of the act or (2) the wrongfulness of the act. Irresistible impulse test shows that the defendant ...
For example, a charge of assault on a police officer may be negated by genuine (and perhaps reasonable) mistake of fact that the person the defendant assaulted was a criminal and not an officer, thus allowing a defense of use of force to prevent a violent crime (generally part of self-defense/defense of person). [12]