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... artist with a head in the trunk of his car. Curiously, the psychiatrist said that he was 'quite well adjusted', and doing great" ("Serial... "). According to Dr. Frazier many people have murderous fantasies but are able to control them through a series of "bypass techniques." Some examples of these bypass techniques include walking to the point of exhaustion, strenuous nighttime employment or temporary isolation (Methvin, 34). Many times people are able to control their murderous feelings, but those who are not able are the ones who eventually become the criminally insane, lusting after blood at every moment.
Often times it is a highly publicized murder that will make the people that are able to control their feelings burst loose and start to commit crimes. In 1974, Dean Could killed 27 homosexuals in Texas. Once this event hit the television and newspapers a series of homosexual murders started around the country en masse (Methvin, 34). Although these bypass techniques do work for some people, the majority are not able to control their feelings and become what is known as criminally insane. Dr.
Frazier says the source of the problem of criminal insanity lies there. He feels that if the people are given assistance in controlling their emotions before they explode then the problem will eventually fix itself (Methvin). This theory makes sense because if there is a way to identify the problem early then eventually the problem will disappear because the early detection will lead to less people actually committing crimes which will lead to less people following their ideas and what we will eventually end up with less crime in total. A persons environment is what makes them into what they are, and since society controls the environment people live in it is also logical to assume society has a great impact on people. Often if a person feels segregated or excluded they will become very self-dependent and uncaring towards others, emotions which may lead to criminal insanity in the future. Ed Kemper, a serial killer had a near genius I.
Q. and because of that was shunned by his peers as a child ("Serial Killers"). It is possible that this exclusion is what eventually caused him to do the horrendous things that he did. The final aspect of criminal insanity is the insanity plea often used by criminals when on trail for murder and other crimes. The insanity defense almost never works for criminals facing life in prison or the death penalty. Many times a jury will look for signs of premeditation which is may be one sign that the criminal is not insane but instead just an evil person who enjoys killing.
Fox Butterfield quotes one example of this in her article "Sane and Guilty", "The insanity defense rarely ever succeeds, " she says, "The jury, noting that Mr. Save had taken target practice the day before the assaults... found that he was not insane and therefore guilty" (2). This is the way that trials where the defendant is using the insanity plea often go. While once in a while there will be a case of a criminal who is, instead of being sent to prison or to their death are sent to a psychiatric hospital most often they are issued a regular sentence for prison.
Opposition of the criminal insanity plea argue that the majority of the time when a "psychopath" is sentenced to a psychiatric hospital instead of prison, they are released very quickly to make room for more mentally ill that are coming in. Once these people return to society they turn back to what the did before, killing. It is a fact that most criminals who kill once and are released will do so again. A large number of people believe that the insanity plea should be completely abolished because it gives criminals a break, which is something that most people are not in favor of.
Christine Stapleton explains her view of the insanity plea when she says, "People who are too insane, retarded or mentally unstable to face their criminal charges live in hospitals instead of prisons. They wear their own clothes instead of uniforms. Most get their own rooms, and some of them will be out of the hospital while sane inmates convicted of similar crimes remain in prison" (1 A). This is indeed a fact. If someone is found to be criminally insane then they get a much lighter sentence and get the benefits that Stapleton has described; this is why so many people are against the use of the criminal insanity plea. There is one problem to be found in the argument against the insanity plea.
That problem is if insanity is truly a disorder that in not controllable, can we punish people just because they suffer from a disease that happens to make them kill? This question is the backbone of the fight for the insanity plea and is one which people do not often wish to face. The only definite way we may ever have an answer to whether we should punish them is to figure out if insanity is actually a disorder or is controllable to a certain extent. Once this is determined, I feel the choice will be much easier for people to make as to whether the insanity plea should Criminal insanity is still a strongly debated topic with many areas that have yet to be resolved. Specific points about criminal insanity such as whether insanity is a psychological or physical problem and whether the insanity plea is beneficial or it just gives criminals a break have people fighting both for and against them.
The fact that so many people have admitted to having strongly violent urges or come close to actually killing another person ensures that there will be professionals working hard to try and find the hidden answers that relate to criminal insanity for a long time. No matter what opinion you believe is correct there is one indisputable fact that exists: there are people in the world that commit murder, rape, and other horrible crimes for reasons that they do not even understand. Although some people kill because they enjoy killing or are just plain sadistic, many others kill because it is an urge within themselves that they cannot suppress. These are the people who say that there is "an 'entity' within their personality, an entity which impels them to kill" (Holmes). These people are the ones who, when they kill, do not mean to and feel true remorse about what they " ve done.
That is why it is so imperative that, if criminal insanity is found to be a disorder, we find either a cure and / or an early detection method to help these people who suffer from the effects Bibliography: Works Cited Bower, Bruce. "Delinquent Developments. " Science News v 143. 1 May 1993: 282 - 4. Butterfield, Fox. "Sane and Guilty. " New York Times 24 March 1996: 2. "Charles Manson. " web (19 May 1996). "Doctor is Allowed to Scan Dahmer's Brain. " New York Times 11 Nov 1991: 11. Holmes, Ronald, and Stephen Holmes. "Understanding Mass Murder: A Starting Point. " Federal Probation Mar. 1993: 53 - 61. "Insanity. " Groliers Electronic Encyclopedia 1994 ed. "Jeffery Dahmer. " web (19 May 1996). Methvin, Eugene. "Psycho Killer, Qu " est-ce que c'est? : The Face of Evil. " National Review 23 Jan 1995: 34 +.
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Research essay sample on Insanity Plea Insanity Defense
