I’ve always had a problem with defendants who plead insanity, especially in murder trials.
This item from today’s Cape Cod Times made me feel a little better:
According to a study by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003, an insanity defense is used in less than 1 percent of all homicide cases.
Of those cases in which an insanity defense is used, fewer than 12 percent result in a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
12 percent of 1 percent is still too many, but thank goodness it isn’t more.