Instead, defendants may be found “guilty, but insane” and sentenced to psychiatric institutionalization instead of prison. In Idaho, Kansas, Montana, and Utah, the defense of insanity was eliminated entirely.
Many states shifted the burden of proof from the prosecutor to the defense, requiring defense attorneys to show by clear and convincing evidence or by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant was insane. Hinckley was acquitted of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan on the basis of an insanity defense, and this result caused many states to reform their insanity laws. Originally, most states required that, when a defendant asserted a defense of insanity, the prosecutor was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not insane. Since our criminal system generally requires that most defendants had some knowledge or intent when committing a criminal act, the insanity defense provides relief for those deemed incapable of forming such mental states. History of the Insanity Defense and the Burden of Proofįor several hundred years, the insanity defense has acted as a defense against criminal charges for a defendant who was incapable of understanding what he or she was doing, or in determining right from wrong. Instead, they are usually transferred into the custody of a psychiatric facility or other mental health institution, often for a longer period than defendants convicted and sent to prison for the same offense. Defendants found not guilty by reason of insanity are not simply released.
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