Comments on: Mind the gap: science and the insanity defence

By: recherche

recherche — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:30:49 +0000

A recent CBS News report about mentally ill criminals [1] suggests that the San Jose, CA legal system strikes a good balance in trying to handle each person as an individual. Some defendants are simply claiming temporary insanity, while others really can’t function in courts and jails. The San Jose judge is trying to get the “truly ill” out of the penal system and into group homes with frequent follow-ups. By the way, the report also says that the largest public mental health facility in the US is the LA County Jail mental ward.
- Michael from The US Desk at TheNewsRoom.com
[1] http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/437613/US?c_id=wom-bc-mdm

By: futurefragments

futurefragments — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:27:31 +0000

Interestingly, the radio show All In The Mind did a really great piece covering this same topic
http://abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2007/1955379.htm

By: Romeo Vitelli

Romeo Vitelli — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:57:35 +0000

Ultimately, the problem is that insanity is a legal concept, not a medical one. Hanging a diagnosis like schizophrenia on someone isn’t terribly relevant in a trial. In the end, it’s the call of the judge or jury whether someone is insane. It’s not as if anyone can truly know what the defendant’s “state of mind” was at the time that the offense occurred, all that a psychiatrist or psychologist can testify on is how the defendant presented at the time of examination.