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Criminal insanity refers to a mental illness or disease that makes it impossible for a defendant to know they were committing a crime or to understand that their actions are wrong. A defendant found to be criminally insane can assert an insanity defense.
Insanity is a mental illness or disease that prevents a person from fully understanding their actions. While insanity is primarily a criminal law concept, it can also be found in the laws of contracts and wills. Insanity can be either partial or complete and temporary or permanent.
insanity, in criminal law, condition of mental disorder or mental defect that relieves persons of criminal responsibility for their conduct.
It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under any Federal statute that, at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts.
For several hundred years, the insanity defense has acted as a defense against criminal charges for a defendant who was incapable of understanding what he or she was doing, or in determining right from wrong.
An insanity defense means that a defendant is not guilty of the crime because they didn’t have the mental capacity required to commit a crime. If you are found not guilty by reason of insanity you could still be committed to a psychiatric institution.
Most states that recognize legal insanity for criminal cases use either the M'Naghten Test (sometimes in combination with the Irresistible Impulse Test) or the Model Penal Code. Only New Hampshire uses the Durham Rule.