The Serial Killer - Part XLII
Dr. Michel Benezech, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Bordeaux and a psychiatrist, has conceived this list of differences between a psychopath and a psychotic:
Most serial killers who commit strange acts like mutilations, canibalism or post mortem rapes could be in the ideal situation to pleed insanity. Yet the majority does not choose this way out. Why? According to the statistics, in the USA, only one in every 1000 criminals who pleed not guilty for reason of insanity manage to accomplish his goal. Of the many hundreds that have gone through trial since the beginning of the XXth century, less than 20 have been declared untouchable or legaly insane. Many have tried to pleed insanity to no avail, claiming a personality disruption (Kenneth Bianchi or William Hereins), hearing the voice of God (Peter Sutcliffe or Herbert Mullin), an old demon inside the body of a dog (David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam"), or inherited psychosis from Vietnam war (Arthur Shawcross), for instance.
The legal definition of insanity is different from the medical one and, in the USA, it varies from state to state. In 16 states the M'Naughten Rule is used since 1843, stating: "A criminal defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity if, at the time of the alleged criminal act, the defendant was so deranged that she did not know the nature or quality of her actions or, if she knew the nature and quality of her actions, she was so deranged that she did not know that what she was doing was wrong." This rule does not take into consideration the criminals that distinguish right from wrong but cannot control their behaviour. To take this into considerarion, some states added the "Irresistible Impuse Test" which allows the defense to prove the accused did not control himself in the moment of the crime, but a federal law dated 1948 supressed this addendum.
More recentely, the Brawner Rule dated 1972, states: "A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of the such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality [wrongfulness] of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.” With this rule the accused must prove a parcial incapacity and not a total incapacity. But the Brawner Rule excludes, for example, acts commited by psychopaths or individuals with a professedly anti-social behaviour.
In 1975 Michigan created its own law to define insanity and that later was adopted by 7 other states. The defendant accused according to this law is criminally charged and compulsorily admitted into a psychiatric institution. When he is considered cured he is transfered to a prisional institution and beggins his serve time.
Two thirds of serial killers who have been charged since the beginning of the XXth century have been condemned to various degrees of serving time. One quarter was condemned to death and of these, around 40% were in fact executed. The rest, some 7%, were condemned either to death or to a sentence, depending on the jurisdiction they were condemned in.
The serial killers executed since the beginning of the XXth century are around 50.
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