Should juries give special consideration to criminals with mental illnesses?

Question

And why?

Answer 1

Yes. But only in specific cases with certain illnesses. I don't want to hear that crap about road rage or whatever the fancy name is nowadays. Schizophrenia? Absolutely. That is a severe mental disorder where your perception of reality is extremely disoriented. Depression? Hell no. Everyone gets depressed. I was diagnosed with depression (bipolar actually) several years back. Am I bipolar. Nope. It was my life situation that gave me the symtoms. Am I depressed now? Nope. The only symptom I have is social anxiety. Is that a reason to commit a crime? Hell no. I know what is right and what is wrong. However, when you have schizophrenia, autism, brain damage, or retardation, you don't always understand. Your perception of reality is very skewed, and nine times out of ten, you don't understand the wrongness of your actions, neither the consequnces.

Answer 2

It should be up to the defense to prove the person is insane due to mental defect not only when the crime was committed but even after that. This defense is used way too much. We don't make people take responsibility for their own actions. It also makes the mental health field become a scapegoat for anyone with a vendetta on their agenda. I'm for leniency but if you do the crime you do the time. Just because you have a medical condition doesnt allow you to get away with murder. The ONLY way I could possibly see giving any consideration was if this person was a mentally ill person and remained incapacitated by their mental illess. Then I would still restric them to a mental institution for the rest of their lives as they are now medically a danger to themselves or others. All the jail time should be served in a mental institution for the full sentence that would be normally given for anyone without a mental illness. People who are paranoid can become a real serious threat to their neighbors. We can take that chemical imbalance into consideration but not by letting them walk.

Answer 3

Does the phrase "not guilty by reason of insanity" ring a bell?
Seriously, the law provides for people who can't tell right from wrong ether because of age or mental illness. A crazy person can still be convicted of a crime, but they are often sentenced to life in the mental ward of a prison, rather than the general prison population.

Answer 4

The person, who has committed a crime, while he was mentally ill, should be viewed by a jurist in a different perspective, simply because, he would not have committed the crime if he was not mentally ill.

A person with mental illness like schizophrenia, in delirium, a psychiatric patient, drugged/wrongly drugged, alchoholic or sub-conscious, when commits a crime is tried in a Court of Law as per the Medical Jurisprudence & Law of Torts. It is followed all over the world. ( except, such Islamic countries, which has Islamic Laws- like in Saudi Arabia.....)

Liniency, is considered and the person is sent to reform homes or sent to hospital for treatment.

Answer 5

They already do, the defence can run insanity and it would be up the jury to consider upon medical evidence if the defendant was suffering from a such a mental incapacity that he did not know his act was wrong at the time he committed the offence. They would therefore find him 'not guilty by reason of insanity'.

Answer 6

Sometimes....a case by case basis. Because some people may not know what they are doing, while others pretend to be mentally ill to get away with crime. Mental illness is not an exact science, and doctors are easily fooled.

Answer 7

No.

But they should be given consideration as to where they spend the time. So instead of in jail, maybe in a special jail with thearapy for mental illness.

The point of justice isn't to punish as much as it is to reintegrate. But if you do the crime, do the time.

Answer 8

Definitely. Look at Andrea Yates. There is no better example of mental illness contributing to a crime. I feel she needs treatment, not just prison.

Answer 9

Yes to some degree, i think they should not get the death penalty if they have a history of mental illness

Answer 10

Of Course

If they're legitimately ill