The insanity defense recognizes that individuals with severe mental illnesses may not have the same level of culpability as those without such conditions.
It reflects a more compassionate and humane approach to justice by acknowledging that some individuals may not be fully responsible for their actions due to mental health issues.
Instead of punishment, the focus may shift to mental health treatment and rehabilitation, addressing the underlying issues that led to the criminal behavior. There is a risk of individuals faking or exaggerating mental illnesses to escape legal responsibility for their actions.
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STEVE INSKEEP, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court examines the issue of the insanity defense. It will look at the case of a young man generally considered to be mentally ill. But the state of Arizona says that shouldn't be a factor in his trial in the murder of a police officer. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.
NINA TOTENBERG reporting:
Eric Clark was a star athlete, a good student and a friendly and popular kid in Flagstaff, Arizona, until he turned 16. Over the next year and half, his increasingly desperate parents watched him deteriorate into more and more bizarre behavior. He looked like a homeless person, refused to bathe or to cut his hair, wore layers of clothes, refused to eat food unless he bought it, and could break the seal on the container.
Ms. TERRY CLARK (Mother of Defendant, Eric Clark): He thought we were aliens.
TOTENBERG: Eric's mother Terry Clark.
Ms. CLARK: When he came home from work, my husband said Eric, you know, why do you think your mother is an alien? And he said well you are one too, and if you get the tools I can prove it. And then, he just started sobbing.
TOTENBERG: The Clark's frantically tried to get help for their son. At one point, even considering having him arrested, in hopes it would lead to a forced institutionalization. But they were told that unless he was a danger to himself or others, and there was no evidence of that, he could not be committed. In the early morning of June 21st, 2000, Eric sneaked into his brother's room and took the keys to the family truck, then he drove round and round one block of a Flagstaff, Arizona neighborhood with the speakers blaring loud music. Neighbors called 9-1-1 and Officer Jeff Moritz responded.
Neighbors heard gunfire; the 30-year-old officer was shot dead. He'd been on the force for four years, was the father of one child with another on the way, and was known as a caring policeman who chopped firewood for the handicapped. He was the first police officer killed in the line of duty in the city of Flagstaff.
Eric Clark was apprehended almost immediately. But he did not go on trial for almost three years, because he was judged to be incompetent to stand trial. When he finally did face murder charges, his lawyers did not contest that he shot Officer Moritz, rather they sought a verdict of guilty, but insane, under Arizona law, so that he would be confined to a mental hospital instead of prison.