Lesson 12: Guilty or Insane?

Attention

James Holmes is accused of killing 12 movie goers in a rampage which riveted the nation to their TVs. The Defense is stating that Mr. Holmes was a promising graduate student who fell on hard times and literally "went crazy" as his life fell apart.

Click HERE to read an article from the Chicago Tribune on Mr. Holmes status.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

  • Identify the application of deviance and social control to crime
  • Identify the application of deviance and social control to mental illness

Teaching

What is normal?

In Psychology we talk about three ways in which we decide what is normal:

  • Statistics (abnormality is rare)
  • Social Expectations (different societies decide what is OK and what is not OK)
  • Functional Perspective (can the person perform their status and roles)

The institutions that define what is normal include the

  • Law
  • Medical Professionals
  • Psychologists and Psychiatrists
  • Criminal Justice System
  • Family and other groups

When one engages in activities that are considered abnormal to a specific reference group, the behavior is called "deviance". When that happens there are structures (formal and informal) that bring people back into line.

Deviance and Disease

Consider two factors related to disease and personal liability for behavior:

  • Disease may render the behavior unintentional
  • Disease may render the person incapable of understanding (capacity)
  • Not all diseases are created "equal"

Mental Illness

Mental illness, nearly be definition, brings about behavior that is considered to be deviant. We tolerate some of it, but it can go to far and the person begins to "break the law".

A person may be incarcerated (Blue Papered) for any one of three reasons:

  • Threat to others (homicidal)
  • Threat to self (suicidal)
  • Unable to care for self (an extension of threat to self)

You cannot be forced to go to the hospital simply for being "abnormal", unless you break a different law.

The "Insanity Plea"

This often talked about issue is actually not very common.

Burden of proof is on the defendant and they must show through clear evidence that they are insane.

Click HERE to read a student paper on this topic

Assessment

Lesson 12 Quiz

  1. Describe a situation in your own life where you "deviated" from the expectations of a group you belonged to. Describe, in detail, the social control mechanism that was instituted to bring you back into line. Did this system work?

Lesson 12 Discussion

Read the student paper identified in the lesson. Contrast the early decisions based on the "good and evil", "wild beast", and "right and wrong" tests with the modern approach to insanity known as the McNaughton rule. Continue the discussion with an analysis of the "Irresistible Impulse Test", the "Durham Rule", the "ALI Test", "Diminished Capacity", and the "Guilty but Mentally Ill" movement.

(Read the whole paper...it is very readable and straight forward, and all of this will make sense)