The Insanity Defense
Over the course of seven years, a mother has five babies and they all die during the first months of their lives. Doctors conclude that each child died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) commonly known as “crib death”– the unexplainable cause of death for 7,000-8,000 American babies each year. The woman’s family doctor publishes an article about her family to show how SIDS tragically seems to run in families, perhaps for unknown genetic reasons. Years later a prosecutor notices the article and charges the woman with murdering all of her children. The woman initially confesses during police questioning but later claims that the police pressured her to confess. You are hired as her defense attorney. The psychiatrist friend of yours tells you that your client might suffer from a psychiatric condition known as Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy. You hope to use this information to consider presenting an insanity defense.
Search the Internet for the term Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy” What is the definition?
Briefly expain whether or not your client’s condition can fulfill the requirements of the various test for the insanity defense.
M’Naughten
Irresistible Impulse
Durham
Substantial Capacity
Federal Comprehensive Crime Control Act
