Insanity defense
plea to insanity of crimnal actions used in a court system / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In criminal trials, the insanity defense is the claim that the defendant is not responsible for his or her actions due to a mental illness. People who have been determined to be insane have been exempt from full criminal punishment since the Code of Hammurabi.[1] There are different definitions of legal insanity in different jurisdictions.[2] A finding of insanity usually results in the defendant being confined in a mental health facility instead of a prison.[2] The first to use this defense was Daniel Sickles when he killed his wife's lover Francis Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key) in 1859.[3]