Case Study Of Andrea Yates

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Psychology in law has been a big part of the legal system for many years. Many attribute Hugo Münsterberg as the father of forensic psychology (Fulero & Wrightsman, 2009). He researched topics such as eye witness accuracy, confessions, suggestibility, and crime prevention in his book On the Witness Stand (Fulero & Wrightsman, 2009). Münsterberg paved the way for psychologists to work and contribute to the legal field. Some of the many roles of a forensic psychologist is to determine insanity and assess competency to stand trial. One particular case that interestingly involves insanity is that of Andrea Yates. Yates was found not guilty, of killing her five children, by reason of insanity. In law, acquitting someone not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) is a …show more content…

McLellan (2006), explains that soon after the birth of Mary, her firth child she stopped eating, nursing, and talking. She was then taken to a substance abuse facility where she restarted her antipsychotic medications again. A few days after, while Yates was at home one morning, she drowned her five children in the bathtub. This would begin her long trial in court. The family hired George Parnham to defend Yates. From the beginning of the case, Yates wanted to get death row. In a way, she believed that dying would release Satan from inside of her and all her sins would be washed away. Yates was clearly a very mentally ill individual. Parnham even stated that if she did not meet the test of insanity than nobody did (McLellan, 2006). The first trial jury had a death qualified jury. This meant that the Yates case was a capital case and the likelihood of her being found not guilty by reason of insanity was lower. During the first trial the jury found Yates guilty and she was sentenced to life in prison. However, due to the inaccurate testimony of Park Dietz, a psychologist who the prosecution hired, she was granted a new trial. In the first trial,

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