If serving on a jury and faced with an insanity plea,...

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...remember that if you find the defendant not guilty by reason of insanity, the defendant is likely to spend more time in a secure mental health facility (where they would receive treatment) with that verdict than they would in prison with that verdict. (And, seriously, someone who is severely mental ill to that point does not belong in a jail cell, but instead a secure mental health facility where they can receive treatment.)

More misconceptions about the insanity defense:

http://www.utimes.pitt.edu/?p=1024

Insanity should not be a "Get Out of Jail Free Card". It seems to me that the 'insanity' defense is merely a ploy to avoid capital punishment when the defendant is obviously guilty of a capital crime, so I would go straight for the guilty verdict instead.

Just because they aren't found not guilty by insanity doesn't mean they receive no treatment, you can still be insane and guilty. I think its something that is should be judged on a case by case basis, obviously it really depends on what the crime is and the extent of their illness.

Those who go for insanity defenses thinking it will be easier are often not happy with the results. Something that might get them five years in prison could easily turn into 20 or 30 in a mental health facility.

Different states have different rules. Some people were complaining about Holmes, the shooter in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater, possibly going to a mental institution instead of prison. I tried to explain to them that in Colorado, that would likely be a life sentence because under the law in Colorado, he could not be released from the mental institution without the approval of a judge (and I think a court hearing) no matter how sure the doctors were that he was cured. And it is not likely that any judge would ever approve his release.

There was one discussion of some guy in prison for something like three years for some relatively minor charge. He thought that a mental institution looked like much easier time and managed to fake a mental illness well enough to get transferred to a mental institution. When his three years were up, it made no difference at all. He's been there something like 15 years even though there is nothing wrong with him and there is no end in sight.

So, yeah, on tv they make mental institutions seem like the easy way out. They aren't. Anyone who wants to be transferred to a mental institution is truly nuts.

By the way, I think that in Texas, you have to have demonstrable, physical brain damage to be able to seek an insanity defense. If you were born mentally ill, I think it is very unlikely that you could be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Murder isn't a crime you should be able to walk away from and be able to raise a family of your own afterwards, its about justice at that point. You can be guilty and still insane, that doesn't mean that you don't receive treatment. There is a reason why these laws changed, my family can personally attest to this. For some at one time, this was a 'get out of jail free card'.

Jared Loughner(the man who attempted to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed 6 others) is currently being held at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners serving life without the possibility of parole, do you think that is an appropriate place and sentence for him? There are very very few people that truly do not know what they are doing when they kill another person and even those people should also never be allowed the possibility of freedom in my opinion, just because they are ill does not mean they should have their hand held and told that they did nothing wrong. Their treatment is to make them not a threat to themselves or others and to make the competent to stand trial for their actions.

I can feel sympathy for those that fall thru the cracks of our mental health system and cannot get their help they need on the outside and far to many of this countries mentally ill find themselves behind bars in this country but when it comes to murder or rape or some especially heinous violent or sexual crime then justice must be served for the sake of the victim. I'm not sure what can be done to change this as this is largely a result of deinstitutionalization which is good and moral for some but has also left others out in the cold without the support they need, would you like to see that rolled back or what?