The Pros And Cons Of The Insanity Defense

What makes a murder want to plead insanity, and why do the insane, plead sane? Our court system has special terms, to a case, if the criminal can be confirmed mentally ill. If the assailant, can prove they were under psychiatric influence, they can successfully plead insanity, and not go to prison. As normal and average minded people in society, we think it to be intricate to prove your brain doesn't work correctly, but, just act like you hear voices, or have black outs, (personality disorder) and you're golden. Today’s legal system needs to have more understanding of the psychological disorders, and just how to go about them in court, and learn that some people do not have an actual disorder, and that they are actually normal people, who think …show more content…
Pleading insanity can also help pick out the groups of people that need medical attention, and put them into the correct facilities ("12 Profound Pros and Cons of the Insanity Defense."). Cons of the insanity defense, would be that it is very difficult to prove someone was in the wrong state of mind during the crime, and an increase in trial costs. Depending on the state's rules on insanity, they can still be sent to prison, even if the criminal does in fact have a mental …show more content…
In recent years, Iowa has had two successful insanity defense cases, successful as in the defendant got what he wanted, not guilty. In both cases, they admitted to the murder, and gave substitutions for why they acted out. The Cody Metzker-Madsen case was the first to occur, and he stated that him and his foster brother were playing, and Cody got into “his own world” and in it, his foster brother transformed into a goblin king that Cody needed to destroy (Rodgers, Grant.). Cody ended up drowning the little boy, thus pleading guilty, but the judge casted him as innocent. In insanity defense cases, the defendant pleads innocent based on the fact that they were not psychologically stable at the time. When on trial, Cody denied his violent acts, and only talked about the goblin. In his past, he has had been known to lie, fantasize, and suffer from epilepsy. When all the information was given to the public, most of the community felt that the trial was fair, and Cody got what he needed. Cody did not go to a mental health institution, but somehow was found innocent, and sent to a low grade prison. If he was innocent by reason of insanity, why wasn’t he sent to and actual institution, where he could get the appropriate