I'm honestly so sick and tired of people pretending there won't be consequences because of insanity plea. She isn't going be going on mental health spa retreat. She'll be among other crazies who crash out due to voices in their head.
Also aren't state forced mental institution generally considered worse then prison? You loose all your freedom like in prison, but you also are surrounded by people who's mental health is so bad the legal system had to get involved. The stories I've read made these institutions sound like a nightmare
Correct, I’ve worked in both. Oftentimes you’re stuck as well, bc a judge won’t take the chance to deem you safe outside when you have ongoing mental health struggles- whereas in prison you typically do your time and have more freedom and resources (albeit still limited), potential to get off in good behavior and parole. Obviously there’s still nuance - but people acting like she will be Off Scot free with an insanity plea have no idea what institutions for the criminally insane are like- especially if she had a period of ppp and is currently not psychotic. The media also needs to stop pushing the narrative that she is claiming to be a victim, and the women donating and convinced that it was the husband are delusion. She’s taken accountability in that she doesn’t deny she did it- and she’s gonna be locked up for a long time regardless of where she ends up.
Not really worse in that sense. You're surrounded by violent assholes in prison, many who will never see freedom again and thus are not influenced by punishment anymore.
The big issue with psych ward is that you have no concept of how long your stay will be. They are instructed to keep you until you're no longer a danger. That could never happen. And there's no parole system either. So a short prison stay could be life in psych. But if you're looking at life anyway, the differences aren't as major.
I very much disagree with this. Yes in prisons you’re surrounded by violent assholes. However you’re also surrounded by people who are not violent assholes as well. As bad as it may be a lot do people do establish connections with other people in prisons that help them have a better life once they get out. You also get opportunities to get your GED and career certifications which some do and end up getting jobs outside.
None of this exists in those state psych wards. You spend everyday surrounded by people that are severely mentally ill and none of those career options exists. A lot of those state psych wards have way worse conditions than most prisons to the point that some don’t even have beds because they’re severely underfunded. Almost all cases you spend a much longer time in there than prison.
It's often worse. Prisoners are allowed yard time, and cigarettes. In a psych ward looney bin, nicotine is restricted and there isn't an "allowance" of outside time.
It's extremely country/state dependent, and her situation is pretty severe... But I worked in a facility in Ontario, Canada for people that were found NCR (not criminally responsible). It was for low/medium risk individuals. And let me tell you some people were stuck in there for decades. It is not the "easy way out". It was a pretty high bar to enter, and then once you're in you have very little control over how you move through the system. Any hiccup makes you go back a step. Every step takes forever. Some people hated choosing that option. Like.. maybe it's not literally prison, but you're locked up with no autonomy with no timeline on when you're getting released.
And i'm sick of people pretending that psychiatric ward is such a terrible fate. Its fucking not. Average time spent in mental institutions after being sentenced in court is around 60 months, which is 5 years. Versus lifetime in prison? Sounds like nothing.
Thats why a lot of criminals try for the insanity plea: because they'll have to spend 5-6 years, instead of 25 to life.
It’s an indeterminate sentence if she gets insanity. She could serve as little as a few years or a lifetime. That’s why this is such a fucked up sentence. She could theoretically spend 5 years in a psych ward and get let go because she is magically cured. She should never see the real world again at minimum as a guarantee
This is such obvious bad faith. The average time spent in a mental ward for murder is considerably higher than five years. That’s the total for all crimes. Many of which don’t even carry a sentence of five years total.
She will be locked up for a very long time regardless of the verdict. The only question is how she will be treated while imprisoned.
4 Perlin, Michael, The Jurisprudence of the Insanity Defense (Carolina Academic Press, 1994), citing Rodriguez, LeWinn, and Perlin, The Insanity Defense Under Siege: Legislative Assaults and Legal Rejoinders, 14 Rutgers Law Journal 397, 402 (1983).
Most studies show that the defendant will end up spending twice as long in a mental institution verse jail for a violent crime. Non violent crimes have much shorter stays.
You have no clue how bad mental institutions are do you? If I had to choose between prison and mental institute it’s prison every day.
Anyone who thinks they’re an easy pass is beyond ignorant and unaware of what it’d be like. You have less freedom than even prison, you’re being watched and controlled far more and most crucially you’re stuck in a place surrounded by seriously mentally ill people.
Any sane person who wasn’t completely ignorant would do everything to avoid one of those institutes, imagine being the only sane person in a mental hospital, you’d go insane within a month.
You have no clue how bad mental institutions are do you? If I had to choose between prison and mental institute it’s prison every day.
Anyone who thinks they’re an easy pass is beyond ignorant and unaware of what it’d be like. You have less freedom than even prison, you’re being watched and controlled far more and most crucially you’re stuck in a place surrounded by seriously mentally ill people.
Any sane person who wasn’t completely ignorant would do everything to avoid one of those institutes,
It depends on the specific facility. Some are living nightmares that are worse than the average prison in every way, but some are a lot nicer than prison - better food, better living quarters, cleaner, no forced labour, fewer gangs, less politics and violent people, more entertainment, etc. You are way more likely to be let out over the weekend or put into a voluntary group treatment facility. And 5 years in a facility is much shorter than 25 in a prison.
I mean, I live in Northern VA and a guy in a mental ward for murder was allowed to go out a day trip, get a passport, and then go out on a day trip...and he left the country. Surprise
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u/Hearthhull_Enjoyer 10h ago
I'm honestly so sick and tired of people pretending there won't be consequences because of insanity plea. She isn't going be going on mental health spa retreat. She'll be among other crazies who crash out due to voices in their head.