FREE ESSAY ON HINKLEY AND THE INSANITY DEFENSE

HINKLEY AND THE INSANITY DEFENSE

The Effect of John Hinckley Jr. on the Insanity Defense
The insanity defense has always been a very controversial issue in the United States.
Many people do not believe that by being classified as insane is a viable excuse for
committing a crime, especially one as heinous as murder. There are many opponents to the
use of the insanity plea because they feel that those who are found not guilty by reason
of insanity are not punished for their criminal actions. Over time there have been
several changes made to the defense plea, but it was not until the assassination attempt
on President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr. that the insanity defense came under
high scrutiny in the United States and many Americans called for reform.
On March 30, 1981 John Hinckley, Jr. did the unthinkable. As President Reagan and several
members of his staff exited the Washington Hilton Hotel Hinckley opened fire. Once the
shots rang out secret service agents grabbed 
President Reagan, put him into a limousine and brought him to safety. It was not until
later that the agents realized that the president had been wounded, along with three
other individuals. The president was brought to George Washington Hospital where he
underwent surgery to repair a collapsed lung and other damage that was caused by the .22
caliber bullet that passed through his ribs. 
Hinckley was arrested at the scene and charged with 13 counts of criminal activity, which
included the attempted assassination of President Reagan, assault with a deadly weapon,
and assault with the intent to kill. The one thing that made this case unique was the
fact that Hinckley's actions were captured on film, which proved without a doubt that
Hinckley was the gunman. This fact left Hinckley's defense team with one course of
action, to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
In the time that led up to the assassination attempt Hinckley had developed an unhealthy
obsession with actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley had written several letters to the young
actress, professing his love for her. He was so obsessed with Foster that he never mailed
the letters to her; he would slip them under the door of her room at Yale University
where she was a student at the time. Hinckley had also developed an obsession with the
movie, Taxi Driver, in which Foster starred. Hinckley began to imitate the life of the
movie's lead character, Travis Bickle, played by Robert DiNiro. Hinckley believed that he
was Travis Bickle, and began to dress like him, eat the same foods as Bickle, and even
picked up teenage prostitutes. One time Hinckley even registered at a hotel under the
name Travis Bickle. 
The defense used Hinckley's obsessions with Foster and Taxi Driver to paint a picture of
Hinckley as a mentally disturbed individual that could not tell reality from fantasy. The
defense team used Dr. Carpenter, an expert in schizophrenia to establish the fact that
Hinckley could not distinguish between reality and fantasy. The intent of the defense
team was to show the jury that the actions of John Hinckley, Jr. on March 30, 1981 were
not those of a sane man, but of a man who believed that he was a character from a movie.
Throughout the trial the defense team put several more witnesses on the stand to
illustrate Hinckley's mental status on the day in question. Two experts for the defense,
Dr. Ernest Prelinger and Dr. Thomas Goldman, testified that Hinckley was not emotionally
aware of his actions on this day and that he acted out because of his obsession with
Jodie Foster. Hinckley believed that by killing the president he would impress Foster,
and cause her to call in love with him. The defense argued that these are clearly not the
actions of someone who thinks rationally, they were the actions of an individual who
mixes fantasy with reality.
When the trial ended it took just 4 days for the jury to answer the question was Hinckley
guilty, or was he not guilty by reason of insanity? They concluded that, Hinckley was
insane when he shot President Reagan, and he was acquitted of all criminal charges. After
the acquittal Hinckley was committed to St. Elizabeth's Mental Hospital in Washington
D.C. for treatment. The country was horrified and outraged with a verdict of not guilty
by reason of insanity for the man who attempted to kill the president. People could not
understand how Hinckley was acquitted based upon the evidence against him. For starters,
the incident was caught on tape and witnessed by many individuals, leaving no question in
the minds of Americans as to who did it. There also appeared to be a pattern of
presidential stalking by Hinckley. There was television footage of Hinckley being present
at President Jimmy Carter's visit to Ohio. Also there were records of Hinckley attending
target practice at a shooting range in Denver in the months prior to the assassination
attempt. To many these actions sounded like the premeditated behavior of a sane
individual. The evidence that appeared to be the most damaging against Hinckley was a
letter that he wrote to Jodie Foster hours before the attempt, confessing to the murder
of President Reagan. 
The outrage that many Americans felt over Hinckley's acquittal despite the despite the
evidence against him lasted for several years. Americans wanted a change in the system
and many felt as if the insanity defense was nothing more than a get out of jail free
card. In the months following Hinckley's acquittal congress was aware of the outrage that
the American public felt and decided that it was time to act. Committees in both the
House of Representatives and the Senate met to discuss the usage of the insanity defense.
Over a 3-year period following Hinckley's acquittal, several changes
were made by both congress and the states that not limited the use of the insanity plea,
but also put restrictions on its usage. 
In 1984 congress passed the Insanity Defense Reform Act. This act states that the
insanity defense "is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under any federal statute
that, at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant
as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and
quality of the wrongfulness of his acts. Mental disease does not otherwise constitute a
defense. 
Another change as a result of Hinckley's case was the establishment of the guilty but
mentally ill verdict, which was adopted by 12 states. This verdict allowed a defendant
that was pleading insanity to be found guilty of the criminal action and to receive
criminal punishment, while providing psychiatric treatment for the defendant. When this
verdict was handed down the now convicted criminal was to be evaluated by psychiatric
experts to determine the course of treatment. Once the necessary treatment is given, and
the individual is "cured" they are then sent to prison to pay their debt to society. 
In more than half of the states that allow and recognize the insanity defense as an
acceptable defense plea, the state makes it the defendant's responsibility to persuade
the jury that he or she was insane at the time of the offense. In order to do this the
defendant must be able to offer, "proof by preponderance of the evidence that is of
greater weight or is more convincing that the evidence which is offered in opposition to
it; that is evidence which as a whole shows the fact sought to be proved is more provable
than not." Although the insanity defense is an acceptable defense plea in the United
States there are 3 states, Montana, Idaho, and Utah have abolished it all together.
However, these states continue to "admit evidence of a mental disorder for the restricted
purpose of disproving criminal intent" to trial." This means that the defendant did not
have the knowledge or intent at the time of the offense needed for the conviction of the
offense that they were charged with.
Bibliography
Collins, Kimberly; Hikebein, Gabe; Schorgl, Staci, "The Trial of John Hinckley, Jr.," in
Famous Trials 
in American History, par. 1 [online journal] (cited 3 December, 2000); available from the
World Wide 
Web at http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/ACCOUNT.htm