you are definitely misinformed—he was in paranoid psychosis when he killed that man (the threat he perceived was in his mind, real to him but delusional). that is the legal definition of insane: he genuinely thought he was acting in defense of himself, and didn’t understand that the guy wasn’t trying to hurt him…

The insanity defense also includes a lack of ability to understand the criminal nature of one’s act as a result of their mental illness, not just the inability to tell right from wrong. So someone who thought he was acting in self defense because he was delusional could qualify.

not everyone who is mentally ill should not be legally held responsible if they commit crimes—it’s only if their illness causes psychosis and they actually lose contact with reality when they committed the crime. only severe bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or in rare cases depressive psychosis, would cause someone to…

You must agree though that some mental illnesses are more severe than others. An eating disorder is a mental illness but not one that would cause a person to commit murder but I can see how something like schizophrenia could. So what percentage of Americans have a mental disorder that would increase the likelihood of…

Life in prison is not “getting a free pass.”

I mean, what if not every single person had a gun, though?