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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page comparison of the legal approaches in the movie with actual law. This paper examines the innocent by reason of insanity plea. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AM2_PPlwMrdr.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
The movie "A Time to Kill" centers around the legal battle to save the life
of a black man that killed two white men after they raped his ten year old daughter. Set in the Deep South, the movie is an insight into the
deep seated racism which dictated the day. The movie offers another insight as well, however. That is an insight into the circumstances in which a plea of insanity
can be used to keep a defendant out of the electric chair. In "A Time to Kill" that plea was used successfully. That depiction, however, was an erroneous
one. The circumstances depicted in the film, although emotionally moving, would not support a plea of innocence by reason of insanity in real life.
The legal system of this country has struggled throughout history of how to deal with people that have committed a crime but are found mentally incompetent. The
Eighth Amendment of the Constitution specifies that such individuals cannot be executed (Lombardi, 1997). Insanity, of course, is a slightly different
issue than competency but never-the-less the two are related. The insanity defense is not guaranteed by Constitution but rather by state law. Consequently, the degree to which states
allow this plea differs dramatically. All states except Utah, Montana and Idaho allow an insanity defense or adults (Frost and Shepherd, 1996).
In many states, however, ones knowledge of their actions being wrong overrides their mental condition and they can even be convicted to death. In "A Time To Kill"
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