Insanity Defense, Plead Insanity, Pleading Insanity Quotes
This is one of the earliest views that insane people should not be criminally punished for their acts. To a great extent, Constantine and his contemporaries believed that insanity was the work of the Devil or demons and therefore one should not sympathize with the condition either.
This is an amazingly intellectually advanced quotation. Herman Helcher, was a former pupil of hers who had become mentally deranged and tried to murder her and left her permanently injured. She not only argued against the jailing of a mentally ill person, but she recognized mental illness for what it is—a disease of the brain. This concept was not appreciated by most American politicians or constituents even into the 21st century.
The Prime Minister was complaining about a British high court decision that ruled that a person who had committed premeditated murder was insane at the time of the murder and therefore not criminally responsible. Many politicians complain about the same situation today. This quotation however was about the original MacNaghten defendant for whom the legal rule of insanity defense was named.
This is the oldest test in Western jurisprudence as to whether a person was insane at the time he/she committed a crime. In England, the House of Lords functions as the Supreme Court.
