Discuss the historical development of the insanity defense beginning with the 1843 M'Naghten Rule in England and noting the findings of the American Law Institute in the 1960s. In your discussion, define mens rea and the concept of "diminished capacity."
What will be an ideal response?
Daniel M'Naughten was a paranoid schizophrenic who believed that the English Tory party was persecuting him. Consequently, he attempted to kill the British prime minister, but instead killed his secretary. He was tried, but the court ruled that he was not responsible for his behavior because he didn't know what he was doing or that it was wrong. This became the basis of the insanity plea. Over time, questions have been raised about the validity of focusing only on knowledge of right and wrong, so the American Law Institute recommended that people with mental illness who committed crimes should be treated for their disease, not punished. However, highly publicized cases of people who committed murder and claimed insanity in the news have caused some states to move to using a "guilty but mentally ill" distinction, meaning the person is first treated and then punished.
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In general, antipsychotic drugs work by __________.
A. inhibiting the reuptake process of serotonin B. increasing the amount of acetylcholine in the brain C. decreasing the amount of dopamine in the brain D. inhibiting the function of the hypothalamus
When asked how she is able to remember the names of all the students in his class, Dr. Willis-Rivera says, "I just try to match each student's face to an image of a famous person.". This technique best exemplifies the concept of a. spaced retrieval
b. implicit memory. c. vigilance. d. an internal memory aid.
In order to determine how real jurors vote, volunteers are asked to read written evidence and arguments and watch videotaped trials staged by actors and then make a decision regarding the guilt or innocence of the actor playing the defendant, in an approach known as a(n) __________ jury
Fill in the blank(s) with correct word
The United States Congress asked the Department of Health and Human Services to report on the rate of infant mortality in the United States compared to other industrialized countries
Which newspaper headline might accompany a story on the release of that report? a) "Infant Mortality Rates Vary Little Around the World" b) "Infant Mortality in the U.S.: Number One in the World" c) "U.S. Rate of Infant Death Surprisingly High Compared to the World" d) "Advances in U.S. Medicine Responsible for Low Rate of Infant Mortality"