Ellen Garcia

Should Schizophrenics be allowed to plead insanity to crimes? Ellen Garcia

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Psychology - Forensic Psychology, Penal System, grade: A, The University of Liverpool, language: English, abstract: Insanity defense deals with a division of the assumption of insanity which describes the degree at which people accused of committing a crime might be excused of the responsibility of the crime because of their mental illness. The conditions of this kind of defense are based on the instructions which are presented to the jury by the trial judge at the closing of the case. The instruction on mental conditions can be based on any of the many rules which are used to determine mental illness. The last decision on mental illness depends fully on the jury which uses the information given from the testimony of a professional' witness, normally expert in the psychology filed (Williams, 2006). The final result of such decision puts the person where he should be accordingly, can be in the mental institution, in jail, or direct release. Owing to these above mentioned aspects there are various problems which have been raised by the presence of insanity defense. In general I believe that people suffering from Schizophrenics should not be allowed to plead innocent on the basis of their condition, owing to the above factors and other which I am going to outline in details