Criminal insanity is a topic which sparks much heated debate. What causes insanity? Is insanity a physical or psychological problem? Is insanity actually a disease, or just a figment of a persons imagination? Groliers Encyclopedia describes insanity as "a mental defect or disorder sufficient to prevent a person from knowing the difference between right and wrong conduct or from understanding the nature of his or her actions." This definition is one which would seem to be a good representation of what insanity truly is. Insanity applies to criminals in an interesting way. If a criminal does not know the difference between right and wrong then can they be held accountable for the crimes they commit? If they don't understand that what they are doing is a crime then should they be punished as if they were criminals or treated as patients with a disease? This problem is one that has plagued courts, lawyers, juries and defendants for a long time and does not appear to be any closer to a solution.

Stapleton, Christine, and Candy Hatcher. "Prisoners of the Mind: Mentally Ill Languish in Flawed System." Palm Beach Post 30 July 1989: 1A+.

Many scientists believe that there are ways to predict who will eventually become criminally insane or commit horrendous crimes. Bruce Bower, author of "Delinquent Development", says that "youngsters who spent most of their childhoods with behavioral and social problems and entered puberty earlier than their peers seemed most likely to turn to violent crime." As Ronald Holmes says, "Mental health professionals and probation/parole officers may be in a position to recognize potentially dangerous people who are physically - and more importantly - psychologically poised for fatal violence on a large scale" (10). By saying this Holmes points out how important it is for these professionals to always be on the lookout for a person with the potential to become criminally insane. Holmes also points out how these people might indeed make it possible to prevent someone from a psychological breakdown that will eventually lead to them becoming insane and possibly criminally insane. Although psychologists must always be alert for signs of mental illness in a person the justice system must watch for the possibility of someone being criminally insane as well. For example, "Charles Manson was an ex-convict and had spent more than half his life in prison before the age of 35" ("Charles..."). Why the court system didn't identify the potential in Manson to become criminally insane is unexplainable. Psychiatrist Helen L. Morrison, and expert on criminal psychology has said about the criminally insane, "These are basically cookie-cutter people, so much alike psychologically I could close my eyes and be talking to any one of them. They are phenomenally alike in the way their psychology is set, the way they function, and how they're misdiagnosed" (Methvin, 35). If this is true, and these criminally insane are so alike then one would think that there should be some kind of "cookie-cutter" way to diagnose if a person will become criminally insane or not. For some reason this is not the case. Even though these personalities are so similar they are different enough to evade any system of detection that has been devised as of yet. Dr. Morrison says that a criminally insane persons "psychological development . . . stops at about six months of age. As an infant, [he] does not develop the ability to differentiate himself from others; he cannot distinguish a human being from, say, a chair or any other inanimate object" (Methvin 35). Is this what the criminally insane see the world as? A conglomeration of lifeless objects that have no true importance and therefore it does not matter whether they live or die? Dr. Morrison says about insane criminals, "Murder to him is no more than child's play, like taking apart a clock to see what makes it tick" (Methvin, 35). It would appear that this is indeed the way they see other human beings. Although in theory all of these ideas to identify people who have the potential to become criminally insane in later life seems wonderful in practice it rarely ever works. This is proved by Ed Kemper, a famous serial killer. "Once he visited his court appointed psychiatrist with a head in the trunk of his car. Curiously, the psychiatrist said that he was 'quite well adjusted', and doing great" ("Serial...").

"Serial Killers". Http://www.mayhem.net (19 May 1996).

According to Dr. Frazier many people have murderous fantasies but are able to control them through a series of "bypass techniques". Some examples of these bypass techniques include walking to the point of exhaustion, strenuous nighttime employment or temporary isolation (Methvin, 34). Many times people are able to control their murderous feelings, but those w

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