"Not guilty by reason of insanity" or "Guilty but mentally ill".... which would you rather your state have?

Question

What would be the difference in these two verdicts, and which will benefit your state better?

Answer 1

Guilty but mentally ill would be more appropriate in most cases.
Not guilty by reason of insanity would mean that you were unable to determine the difference between right and wrong at the time your crime was committed.
It might be beneficial to have both means of conviction available to jurors, instead of making it an either/or proposition.

Answer 2

Guilty but mentally ill. Not guilty by reason of insanity is an outdated concept. The only way I would apply that standard is if someone was so insane that they didn't even know where they were or even if they were human or not.

However, I would not put mentally ill people in prisons of any kind. Secluded communities where they can work out their delusions in a safe environment would be an ideal place for such people. However, I believe that most people who are labeled mentally ill nowadays are actually suffering from organic brain abnormalities through no fault of their own. They may not ever get well.

Answer 3

Guilty but mentally ill is the best. I believe the defense of mental illness should only be used during the sentencing phase of the process. Mentally ill or not, the crime was still committed. How the judicial system deals with the suspect after conviction should be the big difference.

Answer 4

Guilty but mentally ill

Answer 5

A crime requires "mens rea". That means that you not only have to act out the crime, but you also have to have the appropriate mindset to commit the crime. If someone is insane, he does not have the mental capability of forming the mens rea necessary to commit a crime. Therefore, an insane person is not guilty.

Another possibility is that someone is crazy when the trial needs to take place. Those individuals are deemed to be incompetent to stand trial and are not prosecuted until their defective mental state is cured.

We don't have "guilty but mentally ill" because it would be somewhat uncivilized to convict and punish people who didn't at the time of their crime have the ability to appreciate punishment.