Research Assessment 4

Date: October 19, 2016

Subject: Psychiatric Aspects of Criminal Responsibility: Insanity and Mitigation
Source:
Burrows, Maureen, MD, MPH, and William H. Reid, MD, MPH. "Psychiatric Aspects of
Criminal Responsibility: Insanity and Mitigation." The Journal of Psychiatric Practice
(2011): n. pag. Current and Past Law and Psychiatry Articles & Columns. Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins, Dec. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Assessment:
This article is part of a multitude of articles by a forensic psychiatrist detailing different
aspects of the job. Here it talked about what exactly mitigation and insanity is and how they
apply in court. It gives detailed explanations with specific examples.
I learned how different rulings can be achieved and their ramifications. A ruling of not
responsible/guilty by reason of insanity is where the defendant had a mental illness at the time of
the offense and it lead to the impairment of their judgment of right and wrong. Sometimes their
ability to resist also affects the outcome. This introduces irresistible impulse or the volitional
prong. An insanity defense shows that though a criminal act was committed (actus rea) there
was no criminal intent (mens rea). It gave an example of how he helped a court come to that
ruling which really clarified what he had previously said since I was able to read how he actually
went about it and its impact. The defendant had chronic schizophrenia and paranoia from his
psychosis which did not allow him to understand the wrongfulness of his actions that were based
on his hallucinations. He also had the illness before he assaulted the police officer and destroyed
property; therefore, he was not criminally responsible for his actions. This application allows me
to better understand what I will be doing in my practice and how things unfold.
I also learned more about how public perceptions often stigmatize practices in the mental
health field. While their hospitalization is involuntary, it is not a punishment since they have not
been found guilty. Although, often times, due to public scrutiny and political factors, their
hospital time exceeds the sentence they would have had if they were held criminally responsible.
A lot of people have the misconception that the insanity defense is an easy way to cheat the
system and get out. This is not the case though, especially since very few felony defendants

plead insanity and even fewer of those actually get that defense. Knowing more about what
people believe is the case versus what actually is will help me in my approach to combat the
stigmatization of mental health.
I learned what mitigation was which I did not know the word for previously. It does not
eliminate criminal responsibility, like NGRI, instead it just determines the degree of
responsibility for the crime. It is often call plea bargaining, which I knew of but I did not know
the psychiatric side of it. The sentence can be reduced due to the defendants age, participation,
intellectual capacity, similar prior acts and convictions, psychosocial history, emotional distress,
intoxication, moral justification, duress at the time, and mental or physical illness. He gave a few
examples of different ways these pan out. One was of a guy who hit his wife leading to her
blindness in one eye. However, he was not totally exculpated since he was not taking his
medication, knew the wrongfulness of his actions, and stopped himself. Although, due to his lack
of violent history and premeditation the change and punishment was reduced. There was another
instance of extenuating circumstances and factors. A man robbed a bank wit a toy guy and pled
guilty. He was clearly competent, yet his psychosocial history and mental illness reduced his
sentence. His inclusion of different real scenarios enables me to understand more of forensic
psychiatry and builds on my previously knowledge of court cases.
This article has given me insight into more specifics of the field and how it works.
Knowing about certain cases and different types of defenses will allow me to ask interviewees
and my mentor more in depth and specific questions to learn even more. Being able to know the
specific terms will also aid me in my professionalism.