Legal Professionals’ Perceptions of the Insanity Defense

Abstract

To obtain information on perceptions and uses of the insanity defense in New York, 293 legal professionals were surveyed. The respondents indicated that the main problems with the defense center on: poor statutory definitions and vagueness in the law which cause its uneven application; a lack of understanding of the law by juries and the public; overreliance on psychiatric testimony which is imprecise and superficial; and the inaccurately perceived lack of judicial review over the release of acquitted defendants to the community by the Department of Mental Hygiene.