The Insanity Defense Reform Act (IDRA), passed by Congress in 1984, imposed a uniform standard for legal insanity that applies in all federal trials in which the defense is raised; it also established the burden of proof in such cases. Although criminal law is primarily the province of the individual states, the federal government has
The insanity defense is one of the most controversial legal defenses in the U.S. legal system, as demonstrated through the constantly evolving insanity laws and the public response to insanity cases. There is extensive evidence to suggest that juror attitudes, preconceived notions, and case-relevant biases and beliefs affect their judgments in insanity defense cases. Research
For more than one and a half centuries, from the first insanity defense commitment of John Hadfield in England in 1800 through the mid-1960s, insane defendants (those not guilty by reason of insanity, or NGRIs) were automatically and indefinitely committed to a secure psychiatric facility until the state determined that they could be released. Until
As discussed previously, forensic psychology is the interaction between the clinical practice of psychology and the law. Insanity and competency are two legal issues that examine specific mental health aspects of clinical practice within the legal context. Courts utilize forensic psychologists as experts to assist in arriving at legal decisions for both, but the focus