Running head: Insane About Insanity 1

Insane About Insanity

Danielle Zachary

University of Central Florida

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Abstract

Mental illness is a serious and prevalent issue in our society today. The goal of

this research essay is to spread awareness about mental illness and insanity and a hope to answer

the research question that will be proposed. The research question for this essay is how cultists,

sexual offenders, and serial killers fare and are treated in the insanity defense process. The aim is

to see if they are treated differently and if the process is harder or easier depending their illness.

There is also the question of gender and how it can be biased during the insanity defense process.

Keywords: Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, insanity defense, mentally insane, non-

compos mentis, insanity plea

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Insane About Insanity

Introduction

Mental health is a very serious issue in our society in this modern era. People throughout

history have been seeking treatment for their mental conditions. In the early eras, people believed

that mental illness was a result of the supernatural affecting the human condition. In prehistoric

time, people would use trephination, or carving a hole in the skull to relieve the human of evil

spirits. This was obviously incorrect, but paved way for researching illness that had no physical

symptoms. Greek physician Hippocrates went against belief of the supernatural in medical cases

and theorized that there were four essential bodily fluids: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and

phlegm. He theorized that these bodily fluids held the key for mental illness and physical illness.

He also determined that mental illness can fall into four different categories: epilepsy, mania,

melancholia, and brain fever. These early models of mental illness are still used in the modern

time, but more advanced and researched. Later on, in history, people were treating mental illness

in asylums to hold and confine the ill. Now in the modern era, mental illness is treated using

different psychological techniques. Individuals can use medicine to help with symptoms and use

talk therapy to ease their nerves.

Although mental illness is being treated by professionals, people still do not take it

serious enough. There are certain individuals in our society that stray from the norms, even the

norms of mental illness. These are people who, because of their illness, commit illegal acts.

There are many individuals with mental illnesses that commit crimes and end up in jail or even

face the death penalty. There is a way for the mentally ill individual to avoid jail and get the

treatment that they need. If an individual were to say that, during the time of the crime that they
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were mentally incompetent, or non-compos mentis, they could plea insanity. By pleading

insanity, they would end up in a mental institution and would be receiving treatment with the

goal of mental rehabilitation. For this research essay, the individuals being focused on are

cultists, sexual offenders, and serial killers. The research will go in detail as to whether the

insanity plea differs among them. There will also be a look into gender and how it affects the

insanity plea.

For researching about the insanity defense, Scholarly Articles on the internet were of big

use. Using UCF Libraries Search Databases and Google Scholar, you are able to quickly and

successfully research everything you need about insanity and how it affects certain individuals.

Initially I did not account for gender to have a role in the insanity defense. It was only after I

realized that people viewed mentally ill female criminals differently from mentally ill male

criminals that I started to consider how important gender was in this topic.

Method

When researching a topic as broad as insanity, you must first learn the definition and then

branch out from there. Insanity is a state where the individual is mentally ill and/or cannot

determine reality from delusion. When a person commits a crime and at the time of the crime is

mentally ill, they can invoke the insanity defense. “When the insanity defense is invoked, or

when one pleads guilty but mentally ill, it is the burden of the defense to show that at the time of

the crime, the defendant was unable to know right from wrong, that the defendant was unable to

resist an impulse, or that the defendant’s actions were a product of a mental defect or disease.”

(Prerost 2017). The insanity defense allows mentally ill people a chance at rehabilitation because
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if the plea goes through, they can end up at a mental institution that can get them the help they

need.

Results

My research question was initially brought about because of my major. I am a

psychology major at UCF, so when everyone was choosing topics, I knew mine was going to

deal with psychology. I finally came to the question of how the Insanity plea differs among

cultists, serial killers, and sexual offenders and also how gender affects the plea overall. There

are three perspective that I am working with during this research. My first perspective is cultists,

male and female. My second perspective is sexual offenders, only male. My third and final

perspective are serial killers, male and female. Since there are more male sexual offenders than

female, I will be focusing more on the male ones.

Cultists

While it may seem far-fetched and something out of a movie, cults, while rare, are real

and in our society. In current news, a cult called NXIVM has made headlines for its role in

sexual slavery of women and abuse. This essay will be focusing more on earlier cults, mainly in

the late 20th century.

A cult is a group of people, usually radical, that unite together from a similar belief or

goal. They can be swayed to joining by a leader, who is usually well spoken with words and

charismatic. “…stated that some cults may resemble a case of “mass” shared psychotic disorder

(a diagnosis in DSM-IV-TR5 that was eliminated in DSM-56), raising the question of where cult

belief ends, and delusion begins.” (Holoyda & Newman 2016). This raises the question of

insanity among certain cultists.

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Certain beliefs in a cult can be exaggerated and outrageous to the point where one

questions whether it is a delusion. Sometimes an individual will commit an act of violence in the

name of a cult, with the idea of it following a belief or guidance. This can be due to the

charismatic leader telling them what to do or how to act. This is when the plea for not guilty by

reason of insanity (NGRI) can be called into question if they ask for it. An example of something

similar to this is the Manson Family Cult in the late 1960s. They were a group of people

following the orders of their charismatic leader Charles Manson. He had several members

murder famous actress Sharon Tate and four other people in 1969. This created notoriety for the

cult. Was Charles Manson guilty of murder when he didn’t do any of the physical killing? The

short answer is yes. Both he and his followers who were involved in the crime were held

accountable.

Sexual Offenders

Many people have heard of the term sex offender. Whenever the word pops up they

immediately think of someone who is an awful human being who likes to harm others and only

cares about themselves. While this may be true about some sexual offenders, for others this is a

result of them not being able to control their impulses. Some people who are sexual offenders

have a mental illness and have issues of suppressing their urges. While there is no excuse for

committing these acts, there can be help to those who look for it, as is the case for NGRI. “There

is a substantial body of research indicating that sexual offenders experience high rates of

psychiatric disorders including mood disorders, substance use disorders, and paraphilic

disorders.” (Holoyda, Newman, & McDermott 2017). These mental disorders listed can attribute

to the corrupt mental state the individual is while committing the acts.

Serial Killers
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All throughout the media and history you can see people romanticizing and fictionalizing

serial killers. From Jack the Ripper to the Zodiac Killer, history has been riddled with serial

killers. To become a serial killer, one has to murder three or more people in the span of more

than a month’s time. People are searching to find a reason why these people commit these

graphic and horrific acts of violence. Some of them can’t control their urge to murder and others

do it because they feel like it. Many serial killers are diagnosed with Antisocial Personality

Disorder. This personality disorder, AKA sociopathy, is a condition where the individual has no

regard for the right or wrong in life and has no remorse for things. This makes it easier for the

individual to kill someone without guilt. This also means that certain serial killers are mentally

ill. This allows them to use the insanity defense, while extremely hard to do so. Famous serial

killer Jeffrey Dahmer plead insane in court. He was found guilty of murder and sent to prison,

where he was infamously killed by a fellow inmate. This shows that it is hard for someone to

plead insane, no matter how insane they are.

Gender

While it may be overlooked greatly in our society today, gender plays a big role in how

someone is treated, whether it is in the media or in the court system. Women throughout history

have been oppressed and viewed as the weaker sex, which is entirely false. People may not

realize it until it has been said, but there is a such thing as female serial killers or female sexual

offenders, while this occurrence is rare. Mental health doesn’t discriminate between race and

gender, so anyone can become mentally ill. Statistics between men and women in regard to

mental illness does occur though. According to the World Health Organization, “Depression is

not only the most common women’s mental health problem but may be more persistent in
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women than men. More research is needed.” This shows that gender has a role in mental illness

susceptibility.

In terms of the NGRI defense gender matters. In their research article titled “Gender

Matters in the Insanity Defense,” authors Christian Breheny, Jennifer Groscup, and Michele

Galietta conclude,” Extra-legal factors are those which do not constitute evidence, but which

may nevertheless influence the jury in the disposition and sentencing of criminal cases. Some

examples of these factors include attractiveness, ethnicity, and gender.” Imagine people in the

jury being biased on a case just because you are a female. The jury members might contribute

your behavior at the time of the crime as something sexist like your emotions running high,

instead of taking mental illness in account.

Analysis

The insanity defense is a difficult process for anyone that tries to go through with it. To

succeed in it, you would have to be mentally ill and prove it to a court. There are several

stipulations to this. Certain states allow the NGRI and certain don’t. There are also different tests

that one must fall into to be cleared mentally insane at the time of the crime. Several tests are the

M’Naghten Rule, which “created a presumption of sanity, unless the defense proved ‘at the time

of committing the act, the accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of

the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing…’” (Cornell Law

School). Another test is the “Irresistible Impulse” Test. According to Cornell Law School, “

Under the "Irresistible Impulse" test a jury may find a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity

where the defendant was laboring under a mental disease or defect that compelled him to commit

the object offense. This test is well-suited for persons suffering from manias and paraphilias.”
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This test is often used in cases of sexual offenders and people in manic states. The only states

that do not allow the NGRI defense are Idaho, Kansas, Montana, and Utah.

I also found that people are concerned about the stigma associated with being treated. If

they are labeled as being mentally ill, they will think that they are weaker or broken compared to

those who do not have illnesses. A way to combat this would be people first language. An

example of this would be not labeling someone as schizophrenic, but someone with

schizophrenia. In order for people with mental illness in our society to feel safe about their

diagnoses, other people have to change the way they view mental illness. Perhaps if people

would open themselves up to learning about mental illness, we would be headed on the right

track.

Discussion

Insanity is not something to be taken lightly. When someone experiences it, it affects

everyone they are around, such as family, friends, or even co-workers. Sometimes people snap.

And that snap can be caused by a mental illness that was dormant for a time and now lead to

them committing a crime. To answer my question about the differences in how people are treated

during the NGRI defense, I found that there are certain discrepancies and biases in the process.

There is also a bias in gender during the process. Many people result in their sexist and/or racist

ways and their ignorance during the court case and fail to see the act was due to mental illness.

When I was choosing a topic for what to write about in my essay, I wanted to choose

something that matters to a lot of people and I wanted to help impact people. After writing and

researching about mental illness, I can now say that I have contributed to helping spread the

word of mental illness. Mental illness is a serious thing that people need to take seriously.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. –
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43.8 million, or 18.5%- experience mental illness in a given year.” This is something that should

matter to everyone, since it can affect them or someone they love.

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References

1. Breheney, C., Groscup, J., & Galietta, M. (2007). Gender matters in the insanity
defense. Law & Psychol. Rev., 31, 93. https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/d1f2bd82-
7626-4ee8-9a73-870eee85cdf3/?context=1516831.
2. Cornell Law School. ( 2018, December 04). Insanity Defense. Retrieved from
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/insanity_defense
3. Holoyda, B. J., McDermott, B. E., & Newman, W. J. (2018). Insane Sex Offenders:
Psychiatric and Legal Characteristics of Sexual Offenders Found Not Guilty by Reason
of Insanity. Journal Of Forensic Sciences, 63(4), 1207–1214.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.13707.
4. Holoyda, B., & Newman, W. (2016). Between belief and delusion: Cult members and the
Insanity Plea. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
Online, 44(1), 53-62.
https://login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?auth=shibb&url=https://search.ebscohost.com/log
in.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2016-22584-
008&cpidlogin.asp?custid=current&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
5. Gender and women’s mental health. (2013, June 24). Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/
6. National Alliance on Mental Health. (NDA). Mental Health by the Numbers. Retrieved
from https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers
7. Prerost, F. J. (2017). Insanity defense. Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
https://login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?auth=shibb&url=https://search.ebscohost.com/log
in.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=95342910&site=eds-live&scope=site.
8.