Foundations of Law I

Insanity

There are three tests for liability for insanity.

1. Durham test

   • The rule . . . is simply that an accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or defect.

2. M'Naghten test

   • At the time of the committing of the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing; or if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong.

   • The M'Naghten test most closely comports with LONANG. It assumes that man controls his own faculties and can overcome even difficult mental conditions to make right choices.
3. Model Penal Code test

   • A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect, he lacks a substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.

In Mark 5, the Gadarene demoniac seemed to loose control of himself but still recognized Jesus for who he was.