Compare and contrast the McNaughten rule, the Durham rule, the ALI rule, and the Brawner rule.

What will be an ideal response?


The McNaughten rule set the standard of proof for determining insanity in a courtroom. The McNaughten rule states that “a person is not guilty of a crime if, at the time of the crime, they either didn’t know what they were doing, or didn’t know that what they were doing was wrong.” The focus is on the offender’s ability to distinguish between right and wrong. If the offender is not able to tell the difference, she or he is assumed to have a mental defect or disability. Eventually, the McNaughten rule became widely known as the right-from-wrong test.
The standard for insanity established in the Durham rule is that “a person is not criminally responsible for their behavior if their illegal actions were the result of some mental disease or defect.” Therefore, based on the Durham rule, jurors must decide that the defendant’s criminal behavior was the product of mental deficiencies or defect. The Durham rule is sometimes difficult to use, because it does not define what a mental disease or defect really is.
The ALI rule states that insanity is the lack of a substantial capacity to control one’s behavior. This standard does not require that the defendant have total mental incompetence.
The Brawner rule places responsibility for deciding insanity with the jury. In this case, the jury must decide if a defendant should be held responsible for a criminal act. However, most juries are given few guidelines on how to determine insanity. And since very few jurors have any experience with mental disease, it becomes very difficult for jurors to make this determination.

Criminal Justice

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