Insanity Defense: Difference between revisions

** 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.

*** In ''The Joker: Devil's Advocate'' , a new D.A. decides to go for broke and push for the death penalty after a series of killings with the Joker's MO. After a "Trial of the Century" with accompanying media circus, he is found guilty and sentenced to death. However, he claims to have no knowledge of the murders. Batman, who has never known the Joker to deny any of his crimes, investigates and finds out that this time he really is innocent. Joker is returned to Arkham when this is revealed..

** The general consensus is that the insanity defense is almost guaranteed to work in the Gotham court system regardless of how much sense it makes legally but since it means going to Arkham, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|you'd need to be crazy]] to try it. In ''[[Arkham Asylum Living Hell]]'', one white-collar criminal, unfamiliar with Gotham, made this mistake and found himself in Arkham instead of the cushy rehab center he expected to be sent to. Things didn't go well for him.

** Also, not everyone who gets sent to Arkham is sent there due to being considered insane. Mr. Freeze is ([[Depending On the Writer|usually]]) sane, but he's still there because it's the only imprisonment facility with [[Tailor-Made Prison|the technology to keep a cell refrigerated enough for him to survive in it]]. Granted, this probably counts as an abuse of his human rights because it keeps him from interacting with sane people, but he hates everyone anyway so he won't complain.

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]

[[Category:Insanity Defense]]