the issue
“The lack of uniform standards often leads to “improper designations of offenders, which effectively labels mentally ill offenders as guilty and places these offenders in regular corrective institutions with little or no mental health treatment”
The insanity defense as a whole is extremely controversial. As a result, the specific parameters involved in determining mental illness are highly contested. No uniform test for insanity exists across the nation. Instead, courts have significant liberty to employ insanity tests of their choice and assign verdicts accordingly (Plaut 1983).
Because there is no clear policy that directs all mental health evaluations, it is almost impossible to fairly assess individual cases. As long as we remain unable to unify around a consistent policy, individuals across the nation continue to be improperly diagnosed, inadequately treated, and unjustly imprisoned.
the solution
The problems inherent in the various methods employed to determine insanity indicate that a more uniform policy that accurately assigns guilt is required. The adoption of a Guilty-Except-for-Insanity (GEI) verdict represents an appropriate solution that would not only increase the uniformity of the policy, but ensure that mental illness is accurately ascertained.
The GEI verdict: The GEI verdict assigns insanity and precludes responsibility if “as a result of mental disease or defect at the time of engaging in criminal conduct, the personal lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of the conduct or to conform the conduct to the requirements of the law” (Grachek 2006).
The parameters of this test ensure that mentally ill individuals are acquitted if they are either unable to understand the morality of their actions or if they are unable to demonstrate the free will to resist their actions. The adoption of the GEI verdict would have two immediate consequences. First, as previously mentioned, widespread adoption of a single test for insanity would unify the policy across jurisdiction lines. As a result, individuals would receive more equitable treatment under the law. In addition, the GEI test will result in more accurate determinations of insanity. Other tests, which are more narrow in scope, are inherently flawed. In contrast, the GEI verdict “supports the premises underlying both the criminal justice system and the insanity defense” (Grachek 2006). By accommodating for both the volitional and cognitive components of behavior, the test aligns with our understanding of personal responsibility. The proper diagnosis of mental illness is absolutely vital in order to ensure that individuals receive proper treatment.