The Impact of One’s Generation on Their Perception of the Insanity Defense
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v13i3.7410Keywords:
Insanity Defense, Generation, Generations, PerceptionsAbstract
Following United States v. Hinckley, where John W. Hinckley, Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) after his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, the insanity defense has become a contentious topic because of its connections to legal, moral, and ethical domains. Moreover, attitudes towards these fields differ among generations due to specific events that shape how each cohort responds to different systems, resulting in varying opinions of the defense. Thus, this study aims to 1) understand how generational differences impact one's perception of the insanity defense and 2) explore generational attitudes towards legal standards of insanity, mental health, and insanity myths. A primary survey was distributed to students and full-time employees at a midsize high school in Washington state that collected participants' (n=227) demographic information, level of support for the insanity defense, and questions regarding the legal standards of insanity, mental health, and insanity myths. A secondary survey presented 12 participants with a case study modeled off the United States v. Hinckley case and a verdict preference. Primary survey results were analyzed using Likert scales, and secondary survey results were categorized by themes identified in responses. Data shows that recent generation display a more positive perception of the insanity defense than older generations, who exhibit milder acceptance of mental health issues in legal contexts. All generations displayed unawareness about the realities of the defense. These conclusions highlight the importance of promoting age diversity in legal juries and the need to mitigate misconceptions regarding the insanity defense.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Appelbaum, P. S. (2021). Kahler v. Kansas: The constitutionality of abolishing the insanity defense. Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.), 72(1), 104–106. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000707.
Arens, R. (1974). Insanity defense. Philosophical Library.
Baltes, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23(5), 611–626. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.23.5.611.
Butler, B. (2006). NGRI revisited: Venirepersons' attitudes toward the insanity defense. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(8), 1833–1847. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00084.x.
Check, J., & Schutt, R. K. (2011). Research methods in education. Sage publications.
Colvin, J., & Tobler, N. (2013). Cultural speak: Culturally relevant pedagogy and experiential learning in a public speaking classroom. Journal of Experiential Education, 36(3), 233–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825913489104jee.sagepub.com.
Currin, J. B., Hayslip, J., & Temple, J. R. (2011). The relationship between age, gender, historical change, and adults' perceptions of mental health and mental health services. International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 72(4), 317–341. https://doi.org/10.2190/AG.72.4.c.
Delgado, D., Mitchell, S. M., Morgan, R. D., & Scanlon, F. (2020). Examining violence among not guilty by reason of insanity state hospital inpatients across multiple time points: the roles of criminogenic risk factors and psychiatric symptoms. CNS Spectrums, 25(5), 714–722. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1092852919001809.
Do, M., McCleary, J., Nguyen, D., & Winfrey, K. (2020). Mental illness public stigma and generational differences among Vietnamese Americans. Community Mental Health Journal, 56(5), 839–853. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-019-00545-y.
Durham v. United States, 214 F.2d 862 (D.C. Cir. 1954).
Enrollment Report. (2023, October). Lake Washington School District. https://www.lwsd.org/about-us/enrollment-report.
Ethnic Report Summary. (2024, January). Lake Washington School District. https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1704846473/lwsdorg/unoawyj8shtnt8qfbmex/EthnicReportSummary.pdf.
Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U.S. 71 (1992).
Hogan, J. M., Andrews, P. H., Andrews, J. R., & Williams, Gl. (2017). Public speaking and civic engagement. Pearson Education (4th ed.).
Leedy, P.D. & Ormrod, J.E. (2019). Practical research: Planning and design (12th edition). Pearson.
Legal Information Institute. (1992). Legal Information Institute. https://www.law.cornell.edu/
Linder, D. (2008). The Trial of John W. Hinckley, Jr. University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleyaccount.html
Martin, S., Charette, Y., Leclerc, C., Seto, M. C., Nicholls, T. L., & Crocker, A. G. (2022). Not a "get out of jail free card": Comparing the legal supervision of persons found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder and convicted offenders. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 775480–775480. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.775480.
McDermott, B. E., Ventura, M. I., Juranek, I. D., & Scott, C. L. (2020). Role of mandated community treatment for justice-involved individuals with serious mental illness. Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.), 71(7), 656–662. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201900456.
Mitchell, S. M., Brown, S. L., Bolaños, A. D., Rose, B., Delgado, D., Morgan, R. D., Velasquez, S., & Cukrowicz, K. C. (2018). Psychiatric symptom severity, criminal risk, and suicidal ideation and attempts among not guilty by reason of insanity state hospital inpatients. Psychological Services, 15(3), 340–348. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000209.
Mitchell, S. M., Brown, S. L., Scanlon, F., Swogger, M. T., Delgado, D., Ventura, M. I., Bolaños, A. D., & Morgan, R. D. (2020). Lifetime history of suicide attempts among not guilty by reason of insanity state hospital inpatients: The roles of past harmful substance use and current social support. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 19(4), 341–353. https://doi.org/10.1080/14999013.2020.1775326.
Morse, S. J., & Bonnie, R. J. (2013). Abolition of the insanity defense violates due process. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 41(4), 488–495.
Moscrip, A. N. (2019). Generation Z’s positive and negative attributes and the impact on empathy after a community-based learning experience. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
Nichols, A. (2023). Twenty years after Andrea: Postpartum psychosis and the insanity defense. Family Court Review, 61(2), 443–457. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12702.
Parker, G. F. (2004). Outcomes of assertive community treatment in an NGRI conditional release program. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 32(3), 291–303.
Piel, J. (2012). In the aftermath of State v. Becker: A review of state and federal jury instructions on insanity acquittal disposition. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 40(4), 537–546.
Platt, A., & Diamond, B. L. (1966). The origins of the "right and wrong" test of criminal responsibility and its subsequent development in the United States: An historical survey.
California Law Review, 54(3), 1227–1260. https://doi.org/10.2307/3479281.
Rutherford, M. J., Lambert, P. C., & Thompson, J. R. (2010). Age–period–cohort modeling. The Stata Journal, 10(4), 606–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867x1101000405.
Skeem, J. L., Louden, J. E., & Evans, J. (2004). Venirepersons' attitudes toward the insanity defense: Developing, refining, and validating a scale. Law and Human Behavior, 28(6), 623–.
Stark, J. H., & Frenkel, D. N. (2013). Changing minds: The work of mediators and empirical studies of persuasion. Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, 28(2), 263-.
Tulloch, M. (2000). The meaning of age differences in the fear of crime: Combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. British Journal of Criminology, 40(3), 451–467. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/40.3.451.
United States Census Bureau. (2019). By 2030, all baby boomers will be age 65 or older. Census.gov. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/12/by-2030-all-baby-boomers-will-be-age-65-or-older.html.
Vitacco, M. J., Van Rybroek, G. J., Erickson, S. K., Rogstad, J. E., Tripp, A., Harris, L., & Miller, R. (2008). Developing services for insanity acquittees conditionally released into the community: Maximizing success and minimizing recidivism. Psychological Services, 5(2), 118–125. https://doi.org/10.1037/1541-1559.5.2.118.
Washington State Report Card. (2023). Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. https://washingtonstatereportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/ViewSchoolOrDistrict/101524.
Zejneli, R., & Arifi, B. (2022). Criminal responsibility (insanity defense). SEEU Review, 17(2), 120–138. https://doi.org/10.2478/seeur-2022-0092.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2024 Shira Avitan; Matthew Macomber
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
