The Insanity Defense

Knowing what I know now, about this research paper, I would have done these things differently:

·    Thought of a topic as soon as I stepped into our first day class. Just an idea on a topic would have helped me immensely. Maybe even two topics? (In case one fails)

·    NOT have procrastinated.

·    REALLY NOT have procrastinated.

·    Done more research on the topics to find that at least one has a workable research question.

·    Probably, have gone to the UWC a couple more times (I’ve already gone twice). Revising and proofreading is a MUST!

·    Picked up more books at the Library. You can never have enough FREE references! Articles just don’t cut it. You really need to find articles that don’t just talk about your topic, but relate to your research question.

·    Organized a more efficient schedule for myself. I know, I must be dreaming. The fact is this class is NOT easy. The professor really challenges you and I’m grateful for that. However, I wish I had put time aside to look at all the syllabuses from my different classes and attempted to create a list of due dates for all mentioned assignments. Eventually, we create a to-do list for the research paper, BUT, eventually is not soon enough (for me at least). Life could have been, oh, so much easier!

·    Not missed any other assignments from this class. Everything is built on each other and ultimately ties into the research project. There is definitely no time to be making up assignments. Death wish?

My topic revolved around the Insanity Defense, and more specifically, the tests that we use to find an individual Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity or Guilty by Reason of Insanity within the United States. I aimed to place my different findings in chronological order to better understand the reasoning behind each court decision and uncover the history of the insanity defense overall. The most useful sources that I found were:

·         This website: http://lawbrain.com/wiki/Insanity_Defense

o   Sometimes, you just need a quick jumpstart to understand a topic. Wikipedia didn’t work, but this website did. It was in no means part of my final product, but, definitely helped me get the ball rolling. I would highly recommend clicking through this site to better understand any type of legal term or topic.

·         This book from the CSULA Library: Before and After Hinckley: Evaluating Insanity Defense Reform

o   This book, from the beginning, proved itself to be a reliable and useful source. It tells you about its six different authors and how qualified they are to be writing on the topic of insanity. Further, the contents are organized into nine different chapters that make it easy to understand why and how reforms were made. It gives all the different case references at the back of the book and even suggestions for reform (which will be needed in your paper). To top it off, the book was written in 1993 giving a fairly recent portrayal of our views on the insanity defense today.