The Role Of Insanity In The Film Taxi Driver

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The court found that in order for a defendant to be found NGRI, the defendant must “lack substantial capacity to appreciate that his conduct is wrongful or lack substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the law” (Helfgott, 2013). Ewing (2008) states “the ALI standard, which has become the major rival of M’Naghten, drew upon M’Naghten and the “irresistible impulse” standard” (p. 20). Ewing (2008) also states “the ALI definition of insanity also includes the caveat that the terms ‘mental disease or defect’ do not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct” (p. 20). Furthermore Ewing (2008) states “under the ALI formulation, a defendant may be found not guilty by reason of insanity if lacking either cognitive or volitional capacity” The Model Penal Code was a compromise between the strict M’Naghten rule and the generous Durham rule (Phelps & Lehman, 2005). Hinckley is another well-known case that had a substantial impact on the insanity defense. Hinckley claimed to be acting out a scene from the movie Taxi Driver. He had watched the movie numerous times and essentially lost touch with reality which led him to shoot President Ronald Reagan. The verdict in the Hinckley case was NGRI, which was extremely controversial. Because of the verdict of the Hinckley case, the Insanity Defense Reform Act was passed. Helfgott (2013) stated that “congress and several states passed laws designed to toughen standards in insanity

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