Has the constitutional right to plead insanity as a defense to a criminal trial gone so awry that the justice system continues to take a blind eye? More than three decades since John Hinckley Jr. was acquitted for the attempted assassination of President Reagan by reason of insanity, the M’Naghten rule or insanity defense remained in the public stand facing trial.
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The post-John Hinckley era seems a little more resolute to sidestep a fundamental right of an accused in exchange for an outright justice designed, in most cases, to satiate an outraged public. In view of the spate of violence that rocked the country in the past months, it would just be a matter of time before any criminal would be hurled with the whole weight of justice not crazy enough to accept a plea for insanity defense. Just last year, the Supreme Court conveniently upheld the Idaho court ruling against John Delling, a paranoid schizophrenic who pleaded for insanity defense but was still convicted for the 2007 gruesome murder of his friends whom he believed were “zapping” his energy. While Delling’s crimes are unforgivable, the Supreme Court’s decision sparked debates for its delivery of a clear and overwhelming miscarriage of justice.
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Despite the past abuses on the use of the M’Naghten rule, the one thing that remains certain is the moral nature of criminal responsibility which seems to have been forgotten by a system already fortified by a culture of retribution. At present, no one is fully certain if the criminal justice system could also pass the “right-wrong" test. When such system denies a fundamental right enshrined in the law and punishes a person who truly doesn’t appreciate the merits of his or her actions, justice is likewise impaired. In a moral and legal standpoint, it’s could be considered insane.
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