More Thoughts On The Insanity Defense.

As I tell people, the insanity defense has existed in all human civilizations since recorded history. (I actually read that in places like England before 1843 and the M'Naghten rule, it was more like a mitigating circumstance. But it's the same idea.) And now many states and the federal government have begun limiting the insanity defense. Four states have even removed it altogether, starting with Idaho in 1982 after the Hinckley assassination attempt.

But I once read that Sweden, like the US, did away with the insanity defense too. But mentally ill people there are still treated like psychiatric patients, not criminals, in their justice system. So I'd say it's still better in many ways for mentally ill defendants there than it's ever been in the US. And Sweden is probably a better place for the mentally ill in many other ways too I'm sure.