Insanity Defense Essay

Insanity Defense In order for someone to be found guilty of a crime they must have actus reus and mens rea. The insanity defense did not deal with the actus rea, but the question is whether or not the defendant knew wrongfulness of his crime. The right of this defense come from the fact that a person should not be liable if he is not capable mentally to know what he is doing and able to conform his conduct to the requirements of law. Although the insanity defense tactic is rarely used and rarely successful, defense lawyers sometimes have strategy behind the weak insanity defense. The success in the insanity defense will not be to prove that the defendant was insane at the time of the crime, but to achieve other goals based on the defendant

First, time delay tactic. In some cases if the insanity defense had not been raised, the trial would have been over with in short order, for it would only have involved the prosecution's establishing the facts of the crimes. Jurors would have focused on the heinousness of the crimes, and the terrible harm they caused the victims' friends and families. Once the insanity defense was raised, however, the jurors were forced to confront the reality of the defendant life. Defense attorneys were able to stress other factors regarding his personality, age and any other special circumstances. This tactic may end save the defendant from the death penalty. (Cassel- Strategy behind raising a weak insanity defense in the Malvo case). A second reason to raise insanity defense is the social or professional situation of the defendant. Some crimes might be horrible that have effect on the family members of the defendant for ages. I think the insanity defense even if it is weak, will make the public see the crime from different perspective and not look to the whole family as dangerous members on the society. Another reason might be tactic between the defendant, lawyers and business that will be affected because the defendant was a member of this company and represent the company for a long time. Insanity defense will relief the company or the business from having a dangerous criminal member especially if this strategy combined with highlighting the changing on the defendant’s life and circumstances affected his