The term ‘infanticide’ has specific meanings in a courtroom and is related to the separate defence of ‘insanity’. But legal language is contestable and can be archaic – adding to a jury’s burden.
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Articles on Insanity defence
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Despite the many people with mental illness who go to prison, successful defences of mental impairment are rare. But this is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card and should be more accessible.
Jurors will likely be presented with conflicting notions of sanity and insanity. And they will be forced to confront widely held cultural assumptions about mental illness and violence.
What comes to mind when you hear or read about the “insanity defence”? Are the mental images of people who fake insanity to “get away with murder”? Your ideas might have been formed by films such as One…
