The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-10-14
Insanity In the Courtroom

One of the greatest scandals in scandalous
administration Of criminal justice has been the abuse
Of the insanity plea by prosecutor, defense counsel
and jury alike. When Hickman, an insane boy, was
hated by the community he found sane and
guilty. When Remus. another insane person, was
lionized by the community and favored by the jury
he was found not guilty by reason OF insanity
Time and again we have seen internationally ia
nous psychiatrists in apparently complete Disagree
ment over the sanity of the accused thus giving the
impression that the opinions Of any "alienist" can
be had for the requisite cash.
This problem is dealt with in highly judicious and
competent fashion by DR.. WnfreG Oyerholser d1rec-
tor of the department of mental diseases Of Massa-
chusetts-a man familiar with the INTERPOLATION be-
tween psychatry and criminal justice. In Current
History" he takes the following stand
He frankly admits the existence Of scandals, shows
why they exist, and suggests remedies One reason
for the deporable condition is that court procedure
does not keep pace with science. 1t still is based on
the McNaughten rule of 1s43 which states that to be
legally insane the accused must be "laboring under
such defect of reason from disease OF mind as not
to know the nature and quality of the act he was
doing, or if he did know it, did not know ne was
doing what was wrong"
Such view was all right in the light Of the psychia-
try of 1s43 But psychiatry has made more progress
since 184s than it did between 10000 B. c. and 1s4S
A. D. Today it would reject wholly any such archaic
inteIlectualistic test as this for insanity.
Another leading cause of the abuses lies in the fact
that the aenist testify only according to court
procedure He can submit legal evidence but not
scientific evidence Hence, by clever hypothetical
questions and examination the lawyers can make two
great psychiatrists seem to clash in their opinions
when in reality they agree all vital points This
was true for example, in the Loeb-Leopold case.
Again, psychiatric evidence even If honestly ana
competently given is likely to be wasted on the in
competent and unframed lay jury. Though judges IN
some states are allowed to call in experts for advice
these judges are not always likely to be able to de-
termine when they do or do not need assistance.
The real remedy. DR.. Overholser rightly suggests,
would be to have the trial limited to ascertainng'
whether the man committed the act of which ne is
accused Then if guilty. he should be sent for ooser-
walton to a reception and classification prison and
ultimately transferred to the proper place. This would
put an end to insanity pleas in court and insure
proper psychiatric handling of all cases.
Until so advanced a stand can be TAKEN the next
best thing is to have law like the 1921 Briggs law
in Massachusetts, Here I'D all persons accused OF
captal crimes and % those accused Of felony and
who have been previously convicted of felony are
examined automatically by two physicians from the
state department of mental diseases. The report Is
available at the time of the trial.
This report almost invariably settles the insanity
question and there are few or no scandalous dueS
of experts in Massachusetts.