LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Insanity Defense
built 184 days ago
Through the first half of the twentieth century, the insanity defense was expanded again. Courts began to accept the theories of psychoanalysts, many of whom encouraged recognition of the irresistible impulse defense. Many states enacted a combination of the M'Naghten rule supplemented with an irresistible impulse defense, thereby covering both cognitive and volitional insanity.
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Later Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Nowak’s legal team said the notice of intent didn’t necessarily mean the insanity defense would be invoked. “It was just a notice to preserve that option,” Marti Mackenzie said on MSNBC's “Live With Dan Abrams.”
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Amber Douglas, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology and Education at Mount Holyoke College, points out that standard assessments are performed to determine if the insanity defense is a viable option. "A diagnosis from the DSM-IV is not sufficient," she says. "You have to have a formal interview with a forensic psychologist or psychiatrist. You have to show symptoms that impair ability. A couple of standard assessment tests with varying degrees of success are ... applied."
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The insanity defense should ... be kept separate from issues concerning mental retardation. Mentally retarded persons, or persons with an IQ of seventy or lower, may be convicted and even sentenced to death if they are found competent to stand trial.
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Despite the apparent madness of the killing, it is far from certain that Higa can avoid conviction with an insanity defense. The key question is whether mental illness caused his drug abuse or the other way around.
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The insanity defense should not be confused with incompetency. Persons who are incompetent to stand trial are held in a mental institution until they are considered capable of participating in the proceedings.
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Insanity Defense