Abnormal Psychology

Mental nausea and the Death PenaltyThe National Mental health Association has a very strong policy invest regarding the amiablely ill and the death penalty . In curtly , it would seem that the MNHA feels that the application of the death penalty should non be imposed on the mentally ill . Regardless of whether or not one agrees with this assessment , the fact remains that the MNHA is confound a psychiatric evaluation with jural definitions . That is to say , hallucination as defined by psychiatric medicine does not sh are the legal definitions of state law of natures p What needs to be clearly understood here is that regardless of what pre-eminent psychiatrists conclude , the nett decision will rest with a jury . So , no matter what argument psychiatrists and psychologists devise on behalf of a mentally ill defendant , the jury has the right to thrash about it . This is not because the jury is vindictive (although , honestly , in few cases this may be the case ) but because the issue of mental illness has moved from the demesne of psychiatric medicine to the realm of legal definitions . Since the medical definition of mentally ill and the legal definition of mentally ill are so outside from one another , it is no surprise that psychiatric evaluations are discarded by judges and juriesConsider the following : there is no psychiatrist in the world who would not declare , Seung-Hui Cho , the Virginia technical school Massacre murderer mentally ill . It is also indistinct both lawyer could successfully have him defined as not guilty by reason of insanity .

Cho s actions were off the beaten track(predicate) too methodical and planned to show (under legal definitions ) that he was not in control of his actions . Also , it is extremely uncertain any jury would find a murderer of 32 innocent people not guilty under any circumstancesWhile much of what the NMHA puts forth regarding the perceived unfairness of the death penalty imposed upon the mentally ill , the law remains the law as written . Since there is a significant divagation between psychiatric and legal definitions of mental illness , it is suspicious the NMHA s assessment will have much of an impact . This is not to say the NMHA s assessment is good or bad . It is simply a realistic evaluation of the situationBibliographyThe National Mental health Association (2001 ) The Death Penalty and People with Mental Illness . Available http /www .mha-mi .org /policy44 .html...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

If you want to get a full essay, wisit our page: write my paper