Makes a lot more sense then "Innocent by Reason of Insanity"!
Existing law was designed to provide the mentally ill with treatment instead of a prison sentence so they would get better instead of languish untreated in the slammer.
The "But Insane" part gives the courts the opportunity to put these people in the Secure Psychiatric Unit. Then when they are "Cured" they can still pay a small price for the CRIME THEY COMMITTED!
A much better solution would be a law requiring that anyone acquitted of a violent crime by reason of insanity be permanently committed to a secure medical institution.
There is no such thing as Permanent! Have you ever heard of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah?
Makes a lot more sense then "Innocent by Reason of Insanity"!
No, it makes less sense than "not guilty by reason of insanity", for the reasons I mentioned. You may not like the results, but it does make sense to link legal culpability with moral culpability. It would also make some sense to entirely delink moral and legal culpability. It does not make sense to say, "We recognize your lack of legal culpability, but we're still going to punish you, only less harshly." The only sense that makes is political, which is not at all the same as real sense.
The "But Insane" part gives the courts the opportunity to put these people in the Secure Psychiatric Unit. Then when they are "Cured" they can still pay a small price for the CRIME THEY COMMITTED!
Actually, they could be hospitalized for part of their sentence even without the "but insane" fig leaf. If you are so set on exacting vengeance regardless of moral guilt, why not just find them guilty, period?
"A much better solution would be a law requiring that anyone acquitted of a violent crime by reason of insanity be permanently committed to a secure medical institution."
There is no such thing as Permanent! Have you ever heard of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah?
One problem with this analogy is that Bar-Jonah had been convicted in Massachusetts, not acquitted. Hardly a good poster boy for the efficacy of the criminal justice system.
Secondly, under my proposed reform, judges, psychiatrists, lawyers and bureaucrats would be irrelevant once the jury reached its verdict. Confinement for life would be mandatory, and there would be no provision for judicial review in any case.
My plan has one big practical advantage over the proposed plan: it would actually protect people from violence. The New Hampshire plan would actually release these people early (they would be required to serve only 25% of their remaining sentence after they were declared cured). But it will make politicians look "tough on crime" and garner lots of votes, and will porbably pass by a wide margin.