[ExI] insanity plea

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 8:21 AM, John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

>> > You start hearing the voice of God telling you that you must kill your
>> > neighbour in order to prevent the Earth being hit by an asteroid. You kill
>> > the neighbour, and the police arrest you. They ask you why you did it and
>> > you tell them. They arrange a medical assessment and the doctor notices that
>> > you have tachycardia, tremor, exophthalmos, weight loss and complain of
>> > feeling hot even though it's cold. He orders thyroid function tests and
>> > finds that you have Grave's Disease. You are admitted to hospital and are
>> > treated with anti-thyroid medication, and later a rhyroidectomy, with
>> > resolution of the symptoms, including the psychosis. Now well, you are
>> > aghast at what you've done. At your trial, you point out that not only have
>> > you never hurt another human being in your entire life, you are also an
>> > atheist, as evidenced by your posts from this very list. Moreover, the cause
>> > of your psychotic state, hyperthyroidism, has now been cured surgically, and
>> > you pose no further risk to society. None of the facts of the case are
>> > disputed by the prosecution. Should you still get the same punishment as any
>> > other murderer?
>
>
> My mental malfunction has been repaired and I am quite literally not the
> same man I was, so if the doctors can say beyond a reasonable doubt that I
> am no more likely to murder again than the general population then I should
> be released. However in the real world the thought experiment you describe
> almost never happens,  and I'm not sure if I should have said "almost".

The case I have described is of a treatable organic psychosis. Much
more commonly involved in forensic cases are the so-called functional
psychoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. These can also
be treated very effectively with medication in at least 70% of cases,
but the problem is that the symptoms recur if the medication stops.
There are ways to guarantee the patient is medicated, for example with
monthly injections.

In any case, you have agreed with what happens in practice with
forensic psychiatric patients in most jurisdictions: they are detained
until it can be guaranteed that they no longer pose a threat. The
detention may be in better conditions than regular prisons, but
sometimes for longer, and followed up after release by compulsory
treatment in the community.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou