insanity defense

[George_S]

Justice is a difficult concept isn’t it? If ten people were asked to supply a definition of justice, chances are, we would get ten different answers. It’s not hard to imagine the founding fathers centuries ago, laboring under candlelight, quill in hand, the memory of British repression fresh on their minds, agonizing over the proper way to address the issue of justice in the Bill of Rights. How to balance the authority of the state against the rights of the individual? How to ensure that the courts would maintain their integrity and honor in the dispensation of justice? They were genius these founders, true visionaries whose ideas and concepts expressed in the Constitution have managed to hold together a nation of unequaled diversity and complexity for over 200 years. Through hard times and good times, war and peace, the dream survived: a country where justice is paramount and people are born with rights that even a king can’t take away. We are an idealistic people, though we don’t like to admit it at times. That explains why there are few aspects of our society that so infuriate the average citizen as the notion of failed justice. And nowhere in our system is justice so challenged, manipulated and abused as when a killer pleads an insanity defense.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/insanity/1.html?sect=19