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    The Insanity Defense & Diminished Capacity: How Should We Judge Criminal Responsibility When an Offender's Mental State is in Question?

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    2007_DonahoeR_THS_000675.pdf (2.032Mb)
    Author
    Donahoe, Rachel
    Date of Issue
    2007-04-01
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    URI
    https://scholars.carroll.edu/handle/20.500.12647/6991
    Title
    The Insanity Defense & Diminished Capacity: How Should We Judge Criminal Responsibility When an Offender's Mental State is in Question?
    Type
    thesis
    Abstract
    Currently there is a push toward standardization of mental defects or diseases that can be used to show diminished capacity in a court of law. Diminished capacity is an avenue by which an offender may claim that while he or she did commit a crime, he or she should not be held criminally responsible because his or her mental state was impaired at the time the crime was committed. Offenders often use diminished capacity to support a defense of insanity. Experts, lawmakers and attorneys are seeking to determine which disorders should be acceptable in the judicial proceedings, as being debilitating enough to deter personal responsibility and therefore be causal factors in a crime. This is a surprisingly difficult thing to determine. Sociologists argue that deviance is socially constructed, thus ever-changing. A standard for diminished capacity in the judicial system has never been set, and because deviance is so fluid, it probably never will be. Looking at the history of the insanity defense it is clear that there is no conclusion to this widely debated issue. There must be a broad, inclusive test of diminished capacity available to every offender, regardless of level of previously diagnosed mental illness. This test should be based only on an offender's condition at the time the crime was committed.
    Degree Awarded
    Bachelor's
    Semester
    Spring
    Department
    Sociology & Anthropology
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    • Sociology and Anthropology Undergraduate Theses

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