Insanity Defense: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"Well, the work offered by organized crime must hold an attraction to the insane."''|'''Dr. Jonathan Crane''', ''[[Dark Knight Trilogy|Batman Begins]]''}}

 

 

While the use of insanity as a defense has been known since ancient times, it was codified in English law by the M'Naghten Rules of 1843, and the United States adopted similar rules for its use shortly thereafter. Most countries in the modern world have some variation of the insanity defense available to criminal defendants. Some jurisdictions instead have "Guilty But Insane," where insanity cannot be a complete defense, but can be a mitigating factor.

 

In the United States neither [[The Sociopath|psychopathology]] or a [[Hollywood Personality Disorders|personality disorder]] is generally accepted as grounds for an insanity plea, and most states will simply throw the perpetrator in jail like any other criminal if that is their mental illness, since though such persons may have the adequate [[Lack of Empathy]] that you can say they don't appreciate the ''moral'' reasons for why their crimes were wrong, in general they still understood that they were breaking the law, and having pathalogical justifications for doing so isn't good enough. However, other countries such as the United Kingdom do accept these as valid grounds, and many notorious British [[Serial Killer]]s are locked up in mental institutions whereas in America they would be in jail, probably waiting for the Death Penalty. Such British prisoners, however, are usually not expected to ever be released and most of their appeals fail. In fiction, many cases of the Insanity Defence are often based on personality disorders, even if they are American.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'', Subaru encounters a woman who is trying to summon a dog spirit to kill the man who murdered her young daughter, since he had been deemed too insane to stand trial. She plans on using the insanity defense for herself afterwards, figuring that a judge would see the "attempted" ritual as proof that she had lost her mind before killing the man herself.

 

== Comic Books ==

* In [[The DCU]], most of the inhabitants of Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane have had a successful Insanity Defense entered on their behalf. Many of them are also, not coincidentally, crazy. However most of them are not legally ''insane'' by any reasonable interpretation. A pathological obsession with hats, cats, birds, or riddles does not mean someone isn't aware of what they're doing. The same goes for being an eco-terrorist, wanting to eat people, or most of the various eccentricities Batvillains develop while pursuing a criminal career.

** During the [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] and [[The Interregnum]], the Joker was not considered insane enough to qualify for this defense. When he tried it, Batman easily proved that despite Joker's eccentricity, he was fully capable of understanding the illegality and consequences of his actions. It was only when the Joker became a homicidal maniac in the 1970s that Arkham Asylum became a necessity for him.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Anatomy of a Murder]]'', the defense's entire argument rests entirely on the "irresistible impulse" insanity defense.

* In ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace]]'', the hero Mortimer attempts to get his sweet old aunts committed to a psychiatric institution after learning of the [[Serial Killer|multiple murders]] they've committed and hidden in their basement. The [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarity]] comes from the fact that [[Beneath Suspicion|nobody will believe]] that they are insane unless he reveals ''why'' he wants them committed, so he has to [[Framing the Guilty Party|trick]] them into going.

 

== Literature ==

* ''Primal Fear''. After the trial starts, an accused murderer's attorney realizes that his client has Multiple Personality Disorder (i.e. split personality) and that one of the personalities committed the crime. He tries to change his plea from "Not Guilty" to an Insanity Defense. After a dramatic courtroom scene the judge agrees and sentences the client to a mental hospital for treatment. {{spoiler|At the end it's revealed that the client was faking insanity to get away with the murder}}. The concept remains in [[The Film of the Book]].

** The killer, for all his cunning, seems not to be aware of the "institutionalization is usually longer than prison" trope.

* [[Older Than Steam]]: In ''[[Don Quixote]]'', Cervantes explains this trope is the reason why Don Quixote is never killed or sent to jail (though he is often beaten) by the poor [[Innocent Bystander]] of the day. Note that it's another character who invokes it, because Don Quixote himself cannot, since he ''obviously'' is not mad -- [[A Wizard Did It|those jealous wizards transmuted the giants into windmills!]] It may be the [[Ur Example]].

{{quote|''"...The landlord shouted to them to leave him alone, for he had already told them that he was mad, and as a madman he would not be accountable even if he killed them all..."''}}

 

* The [[Made for TV Movie]] ''The Burning Bed'' is a good example of a well-supported "temporary insanity" plea.

* ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' frequently addresses this, as many defendants plead 'not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect' (which is how they phrase it) and court / prosecutorial appointed psychiatrists are often featured for this reason; rarely are the defendants actually found to be legally incompetent to the degree that is required by law for such a plea to be accepted without trial, and even fewer actually have this plea accepted by a jury. The Catch-22 bind is often addressed in episodes where the situation is inverted; the defendant clearly ''is'' mentally incompetent, but insists they are sane.

** This would be a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Langston, were it not for the sheer amount of [[Fridge Logic]] involved in the case- it is strongly implied that if Haskell ''were'' found insane, he would actually be ''let out of custody'', despite his ''entire defence'' boiling down to [[Idiot Ball|"I'm a sadistic, murdering psychopath. And I'll probably do it again."]]

 

 

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' has a man defending his insanity plea with "Well, I killed a whole bunch of people. Crazy enough for ya?" [[Refuge in Audacity]], but as explained above, not quite good enough.

** Also inverted [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=72#comic here]

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Insane in the Mainframe", [[Simple Country Lawyer]] Hyperchicken uses the insanity defense in favor of Fry and Bender, and offers as proof the fact that "they done hired me as their lawyer." What then happens is that they're put in the mental institution, similar to what would have happened real life if they weren't found "Guilty but Mentally Ill".

** Note that this in a country where being poor has recently been classified as a mental illness.

* Judy suggests using this excuse when ''[[Doug]]'' is framed for stealing Mr. Bone's trophy. Doug mentions that someone else actually tried that before but still got in trouble ''and'' had to go to the school counselor twice a week.

* In an episode of [[Batman: The Animated Series]], a sane crook decides to plead insanity, and won his case. He then gets sent to Arkham Asylum. [[Hilarity Ensues|Insanity ensues]].

 

== Real Life ==

* Jared Loughner is an interesting example of just how ''hard'' it is to pull this off in real life. Prior to killing six people, he'd been forced out of college and told he couldn't come back unless he could maintain a mental health clearance proving he wasn't a danger to himself and others. The sheer incoherence of his political and philosophical ramblings got him ejected from abovetopsecret.com, one of the more out-there conspiracy theory sites on the Internet, and countless witnesses on and off-line report him as having done everything from accusing his math teacher of "denying math" to spending thirty minutes in a bathroom and asking afterwards what year it was. As of this writing, it's thought that he'll probably be declared sane.

** This is largely because, unlike laymen, psychiatrists, doctors, and most importantly lawmakers, do not measure insanity by quirkiness or social ineptitude. In fact, insane people are often very socially adept (especially psychopaths with ulterior motives). Plus, while their insanity, by definition, makes them quirky in some sense, they often hide it well. For instance, insane people sometimes eat feces, but the ones who do will rarely, if ever, do so in public ([[Squick|though it does happen]]). Also their quirkiness is a '''symptom''' of their insanity, not the insanity itself. He's certainly proven to be weird, but that is not the same as being proven insane under law.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Madness Tropes]]

[[Category:Artistic License Law]]

[[Category:The Courtroom Index]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]