Opinion ID: 1498122
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the evolution of the insanity standard

Text: Our affirmance of the trial court's conclusion that the Durham-McDonald formulation remained the controlling standard for the insanity defense in the trial of this case does not resolve the broader question of the proper future interpretation of this important aspect of criminal responsibility. [14] Both appellant (in this case) and the government (in Brawner ) have argued that the ALI formulation which was adopted in Brawner would better suit the objectives of our criminal justice system. We recognize that the law cannot remain static; it must be permitted to evolve with the changing complexion of society and the developing sciences. After careful consideration, we conclude that there is merit to the positions urging a reevaluation of the standard by which we are to determine the existence of an exculpatory mental condition. The idea that an individual may be excused from the standards of conduct demanded by society of its members by reason of psychiatric abnormality is relatively ancient. We need not trace the historical origins of the insanity defense in any depth; the subject has been exhaustively considered elsewhere. See e.g., Durham v. United States, supra, 94 U.S.App.D.C. at 235-40, 214 F.2d at 869-74; United States v. Freeman, 357 F.2d 606, 615-22 (2d Cir. 1966); United States v. Currens, 290 F.2d 751, 763-67 (3d Cir. 1961). It is sufficient to note that the defense arises from our heritage of fundamental moral precepts which condition responsibility ( i.e., accountability) for one's behavior on the existence of an effective choice of conduct. [15] See United States v. Brawner, supra, 153 U.S.App.D.C. at 17, 471 F.2d at 985. Absent circumstances which in the aggregate satisfy the concept of free will, an individual transgressor is dealt with in a manner which is significantly different from the response accorded the ordinary offender. [16] The determination of whether an accused was sufficiently possessed of the necessary free will to be held criminally responsible traditionally has turned on the existence of one or more of three interrelated capacities: cognition, volition, and control over one's own acts. Although the earlier formulae varied in construction, the critical question for the jury has been whether at the time of the act the accused lacked the particular attributes deemed to constitute the essential aspect of free will. [17] The landmark decision in Durham v. United States, supra , marked the beginning of two significant changes in the evolutionary course of the law. [18] The first was an effort to accommodate advances in the field of psychiatry by moving away from the artificial compartmentalization of the mind toward an inquiry into the whole man. See Durham v. United States, supra, at 237 & n. 30, 214 F.2d at 871 & n. 30; see also United States v. Currens, supra, at 772. Cf. Pope v. United States, 372 F.2d 710, 736 (8th Cir. 1967) (en banc), vacated on other grounds, 392 U.S. 651, 88 S.Ct. 2145, 20 L.Ed.2d 1317 (1968). Thereafter, examination of the accused's mental condition was not to be focused solely on the narrow concepts of cognition, volition, and control, but rather would be structured to permit expert witnesses to give the jury the full benefit of their observations and conclusions concerning the existence and significance of an asserted deficiency. See Washington v. United States, 129 U.S.App.D.C. 29, 30-31, 390 F.2d 444, 445-46 (1967); United States v. Freeman, supra, 357 F.2d at 621. The second and perhaps more important result of Durham was a shift of adjudicatory emphasis from the existence of a mental impairment as a simple fact to the nature of the relationship between the deficiency and the illegal behavior. The Durham standard, which has provided the foundation for the current majority approach to the issue of responsibility, was deceptively simple in construction (94 U. S.App.D.C. at 240-41, 214 F.2d at 874-75): [A]n accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect. [Footnote omitted.] While the substantive theory of criminal responsibility continues to receive attention, [19] the post- Durham debate has focused primarily on the proper implementation of the disease-product doctrine. The chronic problem has been the elusiveness of a formulation which would provide a medically meaningful structure within which the experts may render accurate and relevant testimony, while preserving for the jury its full authority to find the facts and reach their legal-moral conclusion on the ultimate issue of responsibility. See United States v. Chandler, 393 F.2d 920, 925-26 (4th Cir. 1968) (en banc); see also King v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 318, 324-25, 372 F.2d 383, 388-89 (1967). The circuit court has, on several occasions, sought to refine and explain the Durham standard. In Carter v. United States, 102 U.S.App.D.C. 227, 252 F.2d 608 (1957), the court addressed the nature of the causal relationship between the asserted impairment and the criminal act. It explained that despite the inherently unique aspects of the insanity issue, the analysis to be made by the trier should adhere to the conventional and familiar form ( id. 94 U.S.App.D.C. at 236, 252 F.2d at 617): The short phrases product of and causal connection are not intended to be precise, as though they were chemical formulae. They mean that the facts concerning the disease and the facts concerning the act are such as to justify reasonably the conclusion that But for this disease the act would not have been committed. The concept of mental disease or defect had been examined earlier in McDonald v. United States, 114 U.S.App.D.C. 120, 312 F.2d 847 (1962) (en banc). [20] The court emphasized that the medical and legal notions of sanity were not necessarily congruent ( id. at 124, 312 F.2d at 851): [N]either the court nor the jury is bound by ad hoc definitions or conclusions as to what experts state is a disease or defect. What psychiatrists may consider a mental disease or defect for clinical purposes, where their concern is treatment, may or may not be the same as mental disease or defect for the jury's purpose of determining criminal responsibility. [21] See King v. United States, supra, 125 U.S. App.D.C. at 322-23, 372 F.2d at 387-88; cf. Millard v. Harris, 132 U.S.App.D.C. 146, 149-51, 406 F.2d 964, 967-69 (1968). As a legal predicate to possible exculpation, the necessary psychiatrict circumstances were defined in McDonald as follows (114 U.S.App.D.C. at 124, 312 F.2d at 851): [A] mental disease or defect includes any abnormal condition of the mind which substantially affects mental or emotional processes and substantially impairs behavior controls. The most serious criticism of the disease-product doctrine was that the Durham standard was subject to a misinterpretation as prescribing a diagnostic, rather than moral or societal, test. United States v. Chandler, supra, at 925. It was charged that because the Durham-McDonald formulation elevated the medical evidence to a position of critical relevance with respect to the determination of both of the predicates of responsibility ( i.e., the existence of an impairment and the nature of its relationship to the condemned behavior), it had the practical effect of shifting the resolution of the ultimate issue from the jury to the expert witnesses. See United States v. Freeman, supra, 357 F.2d at 621-22. The circuit court responded in Washington v. United States, supra , by announcing guidelines for the use of expert testimony and establishing a prohibition against the use of certain causal terminology. [22] It is against this backdrop that we examine that portion of the ALI standard which was adopted in United States v. Brawner, supra (153 U.S.App.D.C. at 3, 471 F.2d at 971): A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. [23] The circuit court's opinion in Brawner does not suggest an intention to repudiate the whole of Durham and its progeny. To the contrary, the court acknowledged that there is little distinction between the substantive content of the ALI standard and that which underlay the Durham-McDonald formulation. Id. at 21-22, 37 n. 79, 471 F.2d at 989-90, 1005 n. 79. Accord, Report of the President's Commission on Crime in the District of Columbia, p. 990 (1966). The court expressly retained the McDonald definition of mental disease or defect, and reiterated the concern expressed in Washington v. United States, supra , regarding the need to segregate the legal-moral domain of the lay trier from the medical sphere of the expert witness. Id. at 14-15, 35, 38-39 & n. 82, 471 F.2d at 982-84, 1003, 1006-07 & n. 82. Given the previous modification of Durham by the incorporation of the notion of substantiality in McDonald v. United States, supra , it seems to us that the adoption of the ALI standard in Brawner fairly may be characterized as a relatively modest revision of the insanity standard, in recognition of existing principles and philosophy. See Wade v. United States, 426 F.2d 64, 69 (9th Cir. 1970) (en banc); United States v. Smith, 404 F.2d 720, 726 (6th Cir. 1968). Appellant asks us to join in adopting such a revision. [24] The Brawner court justified its substitution of the ALI formulation for the Durham test on two general grounds. First, it concluded that Durham had overcompensated for the previous inhibitions on meaningful participation by expert witnesses, and it observed that despite the additional guidance of the Carter, McDonald, and Washington opinions, supra, the core question of whether a particular criminal act was the product of a mental impairment was an equation too easily annexed by the medical witnesses. United States v. Brawner, supra, 153 U.S.App.D.C. at 13-15, 471 F.2d at 981-83. The circuit court concluded  and we agree  that the ALI test is preferable, partly because it avoids the troublesome productivity construction, and partly because it counters the potentially overriding influence of the experts by shifting the focus from the direct question of whether the condition produced the act to the issue of whether the condition substantially impaired the individual's capacity to obey the law. [25] Id. at 13, 471 F.2d at 981. Second, the circuit court recognized that almost all of the other federal circuits had adopted standards which tracked or conformed to the ALI test, and that significant jurisprudential benefits would accrue from the use of a common terminology and analytical structure. Id. at 11, 16, 471 F.2d at 979, 984. We concur in the conclusion that Durham's somewhat simplistic formula has outlived its usefulness, and, for reasons which will be developed below, adopt prospectively a slightly modified version of § 4.01(1) of the Model Penal Code. The issue of criminal responsibility requires the application of a legal standard which is capable of simultaneously serving several diverse objectives. Cf. United States v. Currens, supra, 290 F.2d at 772-74. First, the standard must accurately reflect the underlying principles of substantive law and community values. Second, it must be phrased in such a manner as to be both comprehensible to all of the diverse participants in the adjudicatory process and conducive to the maximum flow of information relevant to the ultimate decision to be made. This objective is made all the more difficult to achieve by virtue of the necessity for phraseology which will be meaningful to a variety of constituents, including those expert principally in the law, those expert principally in the sciences, and those, like the parties and the jurors, who presumably are bereft of any relevant expertise. Finally, the standard must be such as to preserve to the trier (be it judge or jury) its full authority to render the ultimate conclusion on the issue of responsibility. Cf. United States v. Smith, supra, 404 F.2d at 726. As the Second Circuit has observed ( United States v. Freeman, supra, 357 F.2d at 619-20): At bottom, the determination whether a man is or is not held responsible for his conduct is not a medical but a legal, social or moral judgment. Ideally, psychiatrists  much like experts in other fields  should provide grist for the legal mill, should furnish the raw data upon which the legal judgment is based.. . . But once this information is disclosed, it is society as a whole, represented by judge or jury, which decides whether a man with the characteristics described should or should not be held accountable for his acts. Measured by these criteria, the provisions of the Model Penal Code offer a significant improvement over the Durham standard. Cf. United States v. Freeman, supra, at 623. While both formulations arise from the common substantive concept which bars punishment where there is shown a sufficient connection between the illegal conduct and a cognizable mental impairment, Durham expressed the relationship in a terse formula which has proved to be both deficient in its comprehensibility and adverse in its impact upon the allocation of adjudicatory authority. See United States v. Brawner, supra, 153 U.S.App. D.C. at 8-11, 471 F.2d at 976-79; United States v. Currens, supra, 290 F.2d at 772-74. Much of the difficulty with the Durham test arose from its use of the word product to express the causal relationship between the accused's mental condition and the charged act. This concept was clinically meaningless to the medical experts, and proved misleading to lay jurors who apparently attached a special scientific significance to the term. See United States v. Chandler, supra, 393 F.2d at 925-26; see also Washington v. United States, supra, 129 U.S.App.D.C. at 39-41, 390 F.2d at 454-56. The Model Penal Code replaces the productivity construction with the more conversationally familiar word result. The Durham formula also was troublesome for its impact upon the decision-making process. It became apparent in applying its test that the intended enlightenment on the question of under what circumstances criminal conduct would be excused had been achieved at the expense of unduly blurring the necessary distinction between the function of the expert witness and the authority of the trier of fact. In its effort to encourage the experts to provide the trier with a concrete understanding of the defendant's mental condition, including their medical conclusions as to the critical relationship between the impairment and the conduct, Durham adopted a formulation which, as a practical matter, left little room for the scientifically naive jury to render its separate legal and moral conclusions on precisely the same factual predicates. Without impinging on the communication between the experts and the trier, the provisions of the Model Penal Code operate to restore the ultimate issue to the jury's control by reducing the artificiality of the earlier standard and broadening its focus. The connection between the mental condition and the disputed act no longer is expressed as an all-or-nothing, linear relationship ( i.e., did the disability produce the behavior?). The ALI standard incorporates the modifier substantial, and provides for a less direct analysis, focusing on the relationship between the condition and the accused's behavioral controls. [26] See United States v. Brawner, supra, 153 U.S.App.D.C. at 13-15, 471 F.2d at 981-83. Such a revision of the insanity standard has not been received without criticism. It has been observed that the causal expression result is potentially as susceptible to adjudication by label as its predecessor. See United States v. Brawner, supra, 153 U.S.App.D.C. at 59, 471 F.2d at 1027 (Bazelon, C. J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); cf. Campbell v. United States, 113 U.S.App.D.C. 260, 276-77, 307 F.2d 597, 613-14 (1962) (Burger, J., dissenting). It also has been suggested that the shift from the question whether the mental abnormality produced the act to an inquiry as to whether the condition resulted in an impairment of behavioral controls (which, by implication, yielded the act), is a transparent restatement of the old formulation which will neither aid the jury nor diminish the experts' dominance. See United States v. Brawner, supra, at 55-62, 471 F.2d at 1023-30 (Bazelon, C. J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); cf. Wade v. United States, supra, 426 F.2d at 69. We have not overlooked such criticism, nor do we suppose that the basic ALI standard represents the final resolution of these troublesome problems. [27] Nonetheless, we must pursue the development of a common plane upon which the legal, medical, and lay communities may freely exchange information without disturbing the delicate mechanism by which the judgment of responsibility is to be reached, while recognizing that such an objective can be accomplished only by careful experimentation. Cf. United States v. Freeman, supra, 357 F.2d at 623-25. It may be that the revision of Durham's language and the softening of its analytical contours will prove insufficient to reestablish the proper line between the factual predicates to criminal responsibility and the decision-making process by which the matter ultimately is to be determined. Should such an eventuality develop, further revision would be required. In the meantime, however, we are persuaded that the language of Model Penal Code § 4.01(1) represents a sufficient improvement over the Durham standard to warrant its substitution therefor. See United States v. Chandler, supra, 393 F.2d at 926-27. Accordingly, we join those jurisdictions which have adopted either its language or its fundamental principles. [28]