Don’t get me wrong. I know the title seems to imply that I think everyone who pleads insanity must not be “insane” and are trying to use psychological tests to get out of an offense. For the sake of this post, I am talking only about those who aren’t actually mentally ill but are using it as an excuse to get away with something.

As I pondered about what to write for my last blog entry, this topic came to mind because I see it so often in TV shows and dramas. The use of psychological tests to provide an excuse for one’s criminal actions. Although the entertainment industry is probably stretching the truth and it’s not as easy as it sounds, I find it extremely distressing that 1) criminals who aren’t actually mentally unstable are getting away with it, setting examples for other mentally sound criminals and preventing future actually mentally unstable persons from getting recognition. 2) The fact that test takers (aka the accused in this scenario) can answer questions on a psych examination falsely or if they’re really good, they can lie to make themselves seem more “insane” than they actually are. Of course I am not saying that all tests are like this (there are actual tests that courts use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity_defense#Availability) but take the Narcissism Personality Inventory for example, if I was to answer dishonestly just to fit a certain persona I want to exude, I believe I could. For example one of the items reads along the lines of “I believe the world would be a better place if I ruled it” — most (smart) criminals could tell what outcome would come out of picking this answer or the opposing answer and thus could tweak their responses to capture the type of “insanity” profile they are looking for. Of course, narcissism scales are probably not an appropriate test to judge the innocence/guilt of one’s actions. But I wonder how accurate the tests used in courtrooms are.

I did a very “scientific” Wikipedia search about the insanity defense and I found out that many parts of the United States that are banning the insanity plea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity_defense#Controversy_over_the_insanity_defense). I think because of the bad media reputation of insanity pleas and because most people (or maybe just me) think that criminals only do this to try to get out of their situation, we are forgetting about the very minimal percentage of mentally unstable individuals. That is not to say these individuals are completely free of guilt but at the very least their condition could be recognized and help would be provided for them. By banning all guilty pleas because of a percentage of those accused to wrongfully use the tests and lie, we are limiting not only the justice system, but the mental health care system too.

I could not find whether these tests designated for courtroom use are revised every so often (as most tests should be) but I think for the sake of justice (cliche!!) there should be a mandatory revision every few years or so; to go back to cases that have employed these rules and to make the necessary revisions to make sure they are accurately keeping the criminals behind bars and are giving the mentally ill the help they need to prevent future offenses from happening.