Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-09-24

big murder cas-" comes ~ for trial
nowadays the public shrugs its shout
ders. Is he rich on pnor?" the public
asks If hos rich, hcll probably get
on on a plea OF insanity. II hes poor,
we suppose they'll ,onvic, him"
This state OF the pubiic mind argues
That there is something lacking some
here IN our present system OF deal
ing with the insanity plca To a cor
tam extent the public rs rieht-tnerc
is something wrong with the system,
though hardly the fact that money has
undue influence. The lack has been
recognized by the leading doctors ana
lawyers Of the United States. and IL
IL TO be rcncdicd
committee composed Of eight OK
pcrts has been working on the Gucs-
ton Tor s!A years. It's report mas just
been accepted by the institute Of Grim
inal La". which is branch OF the
Bar Association. II has the approval
OF the medical profession. and it viii
he introduced into the state l.ceiaa-
lures and into Congress with - view
10 having il substituted on the statute
books for the present law. with the
Endorsements and backing that It has,
II VIII doubtless be written into law
though Legislatures here and there
may be slow 10 pass IL, being SHY Of
new things by habit and principle Thc
new statute VIII be immensely sienin-
cant. IL viii make 4 big difference in
of all sorts OF cases where mental
trouble may be used as a defense
The committees hili ~ an attempt
to reconcile law and medicine in legal
cases. according " those who are iitt"d
To judge II ~ "a roa! reconciliation. Tho
doctor and the lawyer have been work
ing AZ cross purposes for many years
whenever the doctor was called into
court as an expert witness. The prog
rcss Of science has dragged law and
5,f, t.,, 4. :,,,.
they speak different languages. When
ever AN alicniSt GOT on the stand. il
was difficult to tell where his Job left
OF and the judges began 1t was due
to this confusion that the insanity pl"a
came TO he regarded AS a joke. if not
a mockcry, by the nation at large just
when medical progress is showing that
IL ought 10 be regarded with all Sc
riOuSncSE
The mere fact that a!icnists are ask
cd To pronounce a prisoner sane or in
sane shows that the law has not been
revised To keep up with medicine. As
any alicnist Will tell YOU. insanity has
come 10 stand for so vagu. Il state that
The term means little OF nothing Ap-
piled TO the mind. II denotes about
what illness" does when applied TO
the body. If you tell doctor you
are iii he may sympathi with you.
IN, he cannot tell from that description
whether he ought to amputatc your
you. Nor can ne tell how illness
viii affect your actions. II is tho same
way with insanity.
sanity Shades Into Insanity.
Nowadays physicians recognize ion
forms OF mental disease. some nu
thortics go 80 far as to say that no
sharp line can bc drawn between san
ity and insanity. The two states shade
into each other impcrceptibly. And
yet the Law may have man in whose
case il is necessary to draw "a very
| sharp and definite line indeed---thc line
| between the electric chair and freedom.
| There is n" chance for mperceptible
| shadincs.
The law has only one test for sanity.
! That test is over half a century old.
| aud came down to use from the days
when medicine was working pretty cx-
| clusivcly on the physical side of us.
| II is known as the right and wrong"
| test. Does the accused know right
| from wrong? Did he know right from
/ wrong when he committed his crime?
| That is all the law, strictly construed
wants To know in fixing responsibility.
| The doctor wants an entirely different
! line of evidence. ''Thc accused may
| have known perfectly the difference
between right and wrong. and yet his
! mind may have been so affected that
| il would he unjust to hold him re-
| sponSiblc for his actions" says the
modern mental specialist
Besides this difference between mcdi
cal and legal insanity, there is. as "a
member of the committee points out.
| AN Inconsistency in the position Of the
| law taken alone To the lay mind ii
! looks almost as if the law has been
| "oniradiciinE itself all along. 1t is
| interesting to note how all this contra
| dictinn came about.
| Away back in lSiS. or thcrcabouts.
| u man named McNaughten shot at the
| Prime Minister of England. II was n
| tremendously important case i'm it's day.
aud held public attention like gen
| crnl strike combined with n general
election. McNnughtcn was acquitted on
| The ground that he was insane when
he fred the shot.
| Mcnnintc of illegally Insane"
tremendous uproar followed. Tho
| House of Lords ordered an mvcstie :
| ton. The honorable Judges were ask
ed what they meant when they said a
man was insane, aud now that fact
| acquitted him. y Lord Chancellor of
England had once said that insanity
as "a defense was lauEhablc. Tho hon
brable judges delibcrated, and finally