Should insanity really be a viable plea?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070117/ap_on_re_us/children_in_bay

It seems like anyone can commit horrific murders of their children (consider andrea yates who drowned her 5 children and the woman in tx who chopped her infant's arms off and let the baby bleed to death) and get off with nothing but time in a mental institution simply by saying Jesus told them to do it. It doesn't make sense to me. Sure, most people would say you'd have to be insane to do that to your own children, but some people are just plain evil. Thoughts?

Answer 1

I agree. There needs to be new ways to figure out if someone really is insane.

Answer 2

In the case of Andrea Yates, she knew she was killing her children and she knew it was wrong and she would get into trouble for it. That alone makes the insanity plea useless. Her thought process wasn't (isn't) right and there were many warning signs to support that. Any parent that kills a child obviously has some mental problems. In a regular prison setting, they can still get mental help and meds so I don't think a prison sentence is unfair to anyone that commits such a crime.

Personally, I think Yate's husband and doctor should be accounted for some of the blame. Her husband knew she was sick but kept pushing for more children. Her doctor knew the same thing and took her off meds because their insurance ran out. Insurance policies need to be rethought and exceptions should be made. That will probably never happen seeing as the drug companies will lose money and God forbid that a billion dollar corporation should actually help people instead of worrying about the almighty dollar.

Answer 3

I used to feel like you did. I could not comprehend how someone could ever harm their children or be that mentally messed up to go threw with it. I thought people who suffered from mental illness were making it up or just weak. I was so wrong. I am dealing with depression for the first time in my life and let me tell you the thoughts that run threw my mind sometimes are shocking. I would never go threw with them but I know others are probably not as strong and the chemical imbalance in their bodies is so out of whack that they give in.

Should insanity be a viable plea? Yes. For the women who killed their children, I believe pleading insanity should not set them free though. They should be locked up in a mental institution for however long amount of time and never be allowed to have children again.

Answer 4

Yates was clearly insane. The doctor who cut her medication and cleared her to be alone with the kids should have been standing on trial right along side her.

Let me put it this way: Yate's mental condition was such if you wanted the death penalty, all you had to do was leave her alone for five minutes with a rope in her cell, and that would have taken care of matters.

Insanity does exist. Whether you choose to allow it as a defence or not is rather moot to the point. And Yates was indeed insane. She is locked up either way. She can never be allowed back out either way. So what is the difference?

Answer 5

The law says that if a person isn't capable of knowing right from wrong and isn't able to assist with their own defense and / or hears voices telling them to commit an act, they can mount an insanity defense, or so I've been told by Court TV.

The sad truth is the really insane people don't receive help while the truly evil ones go free.

Answer 6

I saw the details on the murder of which you spoke and the woman was really nuts at the time. Mental institution was the right thing in this case. Everyone in the family knew she couldn't be trusted with the children and the religous fool she was listening to at that time needs to be put in the nut house along with her. Or maybe prison for him. I don't agree with alot of others getting off but in her case, she was nuttttts

Answer 7

If you are sick and vomit on the floor should you be condemned? Heavens no. These people don't know what they are doing because their brain chemistry is screwed up. Andrea Yates should have been committed before she hurt her children. Maybe she was good at not showing her symptoms, like voices in her head. Unfortunately our society does have completely evil acting people in it. They are sick. But we do not have the means to deal with them. I do believe we have to kill them because they are too dangerous to even be in prison. But people like Andrea Yates who if on medication would not hurt anyone. She also needs to watched carefully to make sure she takes her medicaiton.

Answer 8

An insanity defense rarely works. It's so rare that I'm inclined to believe they truly are crazy when it's successful.

Answer 9

Viable, yes, easy to use no. If somebody is that crazy they ought to be locked up for as long as they would have been jailed for the same offense.

Answer 10

IF ONE IS FOUND GUILTY BY REASON OF INSANITY, THE PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE LIFE WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE.