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Mental illness and the insanity defense
How psychology helps in criminal behaviour study
Mental illness and the insanity defense
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The film we watched was a Frontline documentary about the tragic case of Ralph Tortorici called A Case of Insanity. On December 14, 1994 Ralph went into a lecture hall with a rifle and a hunting knife taking the whole classroom hostage. He demanded to speak to President Clinton, and threatened to kill the hostages if they did not comply with his demands. Ralph was calm towards the students held hostage and demanded people from outside to gather food for them. 19-year-old Jason McEnaney attempted to wrestle the rifle out of Ralph’s hands, but this caused the to go off and he was shot in the genital area. Several students attacked Ralph and held him until the police came in and arrested him. Ralph was taken to jail with 14 counts of aggravated assault. His trial was held on Jan 3rd, 1996 and Ralph announced that he would not be present at his trial. It was stated that he had paranoia schizophrenia and he had also traces of cocaine in his system. Even though Ralph’s prosecutors indicated to the 12 jurors that Ralph was delusional, he suffered from mental illness.
After watching this film I felt that the court did not give Ralph Tortorici a fair trial. First of all, Ralph had demonstrated a history of mental illness for most of his life and nothing was done to correct his illness, then the Judge also decided to proceed with the trial despite the evidence from the evaluation of the psychiatrist that Ralph was clearly not mentally stable and he needed to be hospitalized, and lastly Ralph was given an unjust and cruel punishment leading to his suicide due to the lack of help for his mental illness. Through his history of illness, the lack of proper trial and the lack of support for his paranoia schizophrenia demonstrate that Ralph Torto...
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In conclusion, Ralph Tortorici’s trial was unfair. Through his history of anger and solitary that later lead to a severe illness, the lack of proper trial due to the reason that the prosecution should not have gone forward after there was clear evidence of Ralph’s unstable mental health and the lack of support for his paranoia schizophrenia are all factors that demonstrate why Ralph was given an unjust trial.
References
A Case of Insanity. (n.d.). PBS. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/s
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2006) 12: 239-248doi: 10.1192/apt.12.4.239
Defining and Assessing Competency to Stand Trial. (2004, February 23). Criminal Forensics Competency. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://forensicpsychiatry.stanford.edu/Files/Criminal%20Forensics/Competency.2.pdf
Convicted for the murders of his wife and two kids, thirty-four years ago, Dr. MacDonald still endures the agony of being accused of killing his family. Even after twenty-four years of imprisonment and several unlawful court hearings, additional documentation continues to up hold Dr. MacDonald’s testimony.
Throughout the trial, defense attorneys attempted to argue Salvi was suffering from psychological disorders that would make him incompetent for trial. Ultimately, however Salvi was found competent to stand trial. After reading Salvi’s full psychiatric interview, the official court transcript of the four-day competency hearing, and the day-to-day summary; I have come to agree that the defendant, John Salvi was competent to stand trial.
Billy Joel once sang, “Only the good die young”. In life, it is true, the young and innocent seem to touch more lives around us than anyone else. In the Casey Anthony trial, Anthony was a suspect in the murder of her daughter Caylee. Caylee’s life shouldn’t be counted in years, it should be counted by how many lives she affected, the love she has gained, and the support the country has given her to find out what really happened. In the play, Twelve Angry Men, a boy killed his father; however, both cases were challenged by the obvious and the abstruse evidence. Large cities towards the east coast, in 1982, Twelve Angry Men, and 2008, Casey Anthony Trial, affiliated with two major trials able to modify the lives of the living and the dead. For that reason, during the Casey Anthony case, jurors were conflicted throughout the trial.
There are certain standards that the courts use to determine competency. In order to find the accused competent, a court should find out by a preponderance of evidence that the defendant has remarkable ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational indulgence. The def...
There were three main issues behind the wrongful conviction of David Milgaard, each playing their own role in the ruling. Pre-existing views and perceptions of deviance placed Milgaard among the socially marginalized, making him an easy target for police and public allegations. The broadcast media had a huge impact on public awareness and police actions, presenting a problem with jury discrimination and witness testimony. Finally, and perhaps most inexcusably, misconduct on the part of the Canadian Criminal Justice System in both the investigation and prosecution of the case caused the trial to end in a guilty verdict. If any or all of these factors were more closely investigated or realized at the time, David Milgaard, may not have lost 23 years of his life and this senseless tragedy could have been prevented.
This movie goes to show how such crucial facts and minuet evidence if not processed fully and clearly can change the outcome in such a big way. In this jury you have 12 men from all different walks of life, 12 different times, and 12 different personalities. Who have an obligation to come to one conclusion and that's whether or not the young man on trial is guilty of murdering his father or is innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. Under much frustration and lack of patience these 12 men began to get unruly and unfocused. Throughout this distraction key terms get misused, facts get turned around and more importantly emotions start to cross making it hard for these men to produce a verdict.
Sister Helen’s first case, Patrick Sonnier, better influenced my opinion on capital punishment. Her strategies in dealing with a convicted killer were brave and courageous. She was always willing to meet with Patrick and to talk about anything he liked. She helped him to realize his mistake, but more importantly, helped him to become a better person. She was always reminding Pat that God had the power of forgiveness, and that if he were truly sorry, God would forgive him. Sister Helen’s best arguments were the details she spoke about prior to Sonnier’s death. When Sister Helen spoke about Pat’s legal defense, it made a big impact on me as a reader. She persuaded me to look at things from two angles, instead of just one. As a reader, I was upset with the comparison between Pat’s sentence and his brother’s sentence. How could two brothers who conspired in the murder together receive two different sentences: Pat receiving a death sentence, while Pat’s brother Eddie receiving a lesser charge in a ...
Competency to stand Trial: Refers to the ability or inability of a person to stand trial, and the inability could be due to an issue preventing them from being able to participate in their defense. If a person is considered incompetent, it could be for many reasons, for instance a mental or physical disorder as well as an intellectual disability.
The portrayal of the justice system in this movie is unmistakably accurate; however, the downfall of the system comes when a victim wrongly identifies Mr. Balestrero as the robber. This human error sends the detectives down a slippery slope, where they forcibly find evidence against Mr. Balestrero and ultimately detain him on shallow grounds. Thankfully, the real culprit was found before Mr. Balestrero’s trial came to an end, but nevertheless, the impact a situation like this has on a person, is devastating, and most notably seen with Mrs. Balestrero. The fault, however, is not that of the justice system itself, a Time magazine article depicting the events of that case states, “He does not blame the police (“ they couldn’t help it”)” (Brean 107), but that of human error, Mr. Balestrero states, “ If they have a conscience, they’ll realize they where wrong”(Brean 107) which is an unavoidable aspect of the justice
Craig Scott was just 16 years old when he crowded underneath a desk with his two friends while classmates, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, acted out a real-life version of a Hollywood scene of ruthless murder, shouting lines from their favorite movie while gunning down kids and teachers in the corridors of Columbine High. Craig remembers the shouting and laughter of the shooters as they burst into the library armed with sawed-off shotguns, a handgun and a 9mm semi-automatic carbine. Craig recalls how his friends were both shot, one slumped dead on either side of him, their blood soaking into his clothes. Inexplicably, Craig was uninjured, physically at least. “I was experiencing so much fear I thought my heart was going to stop beating,” he recalls (Day, 2009). Later, Craig would learn how his sister was gunned down while eating lunch on the lawn. Rachel, 17, died instantly, the first of 13 victims of mass violence who lost their lives that day in the, now infamous, massacre known simply as “Columbine.” Speaking at an event marking the tenth anniversary of that terrorizing violence, Craig says he is still reliving the horror, “…going through it…over and over again” (Day, 2009). Craig echoes the reality faced by all victims of violent trauma, and particularly those of mass violence; “My life changed that day” (Day, 2009). Victims of violent trauma face many challenges, both immediately following the initial event and long-term. Though the extent of recovery varies for individuals and may include physical, emotional, and financial trauma, victims of violence often struggle with management of the psychological impact of their experience. Like Craig, many victims of mass violence find coping with the impact of trauma chall...
Roesch, R., & Rogers, B. (2011). The cambridge handbook of forensic psychology. Canadian Psychology, 52(3), 242-242-243.
Review, PubMed PMID: 19543886. Saferstein, R. (2011). Criminalistics: An introduction to forensic science (10th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Tracy’s father was faced with an unfortunate decision, and in his decision, I cannot condemn him for his actions. Now saying this I don’t believe what he did was particularly the right decision or particularly the wrong decision. As for his life sentence, it’s quite outrageous. My reasoning for this is because of his actual intentions and his mental rationale in doing so. He claims that he did it out of love and mercy, which I whole-heartedly agree with. With Tracy’s condition already being a significant trouble to live with and the fact that her surgeries brought her much pain and suffering is something that would be hard to bear. They claimed that she had the mental capacity of a four month old baby, so in that sense, it’s almost like watching an innocent baby constantly in pain. One part of the case says that Tracy’s mother believed that the many surgeries especially the one that removed her upper thigh bone were not surgeries but mutilations. I can see why her mother would think this. I can only imagine what it would be like to watch your loved one constantly be mutilated and going under the knife. Surgery and visits to the doctor alone can be stressful enough in itself, let alone ones that can be perceived as mutilations. Additionally the case states that Tracy had 5-6 seizures a day, which would imaginably be hard to watch and care for. Ultimately, I cannot in any way condemn Tracy’s
David works as a gardener, people say he is kind and passive. In recent days family and friends have realized his behaviour had changed. While David was at a clients house he and the client were in an argument which escalated to the point where he beat her to death. In his trial the prosecutor argued and said he had lost his temper and beat the client to death which resulted David to life in prison.
"Forensic Psychologist: Job Description." | Prospects UK. Ed. AGCAS. N.p., Aug. 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.