Defenses and Insanity

Answer

"Battered Woman Syndrome" and "Insanity" as Defenses

It is often said that in homicide-related cases, two fundamental elements need to be proven and they include; mens rea and actus reus. Mens rea speaks to the mental intent underlying the commission of a crime while actus reus speaks to the specific action that leads to the completion of the crime (for example is it is a murder case, the act of 'stabbing' signifies the actus reus. While these two elements need to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, there are instances when defendants will not object to the fact that they committed the crime (since the evidence is self-apparent) but they will seek to rely on various defenses. Some of the defenses that have been used in the past include; the 'battered woman syndrome' and temporary sanity. These defenses allude to the fact that the process of mens rea was adulterated by specific mental conditions. This paper will provide an analysis of the defenses of 'battered woman syndrome' and temporary insanity (vis-à-vis non-temporal sanity).

The 'battered woman syndrome' is a component of the self-defense plea and it is often considered as a sub-set of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Safarik, M., & Ramsland, 2019). Numerous studies have shown that prolonged exposure to partner violence often has an adverse effect on a victim's thought processes and it can indeed affect their decision-making skills (Safarik, M., & Ramsland, 2019). Battering has been shown to have significant consequences on a woman's state of mind and the coping mechanisms that are adopted at the spur of the moment can indeed culminate to the occurrence of a homicide. Although it is often argued that the psychological effects of battering can lead to a common set of symptoms which apply to all cases wherein the battered woman syndrome applies, it is important to note that battered women respond differently to violence and abuse and as a consequence the term can be quite vague and open-ended (Schmalleger, Hall and Dolatowski, 2009). As a result of the extent to which different women will respond differently when exposed to continuous partner violence, it is indeed true that the matters attached to the phrase; 'battered women syndrome' cannot intelligibly be defined. If, however, an effective legal description of 'battered woman syndrome’ was to be formulated, the proposition herein is that it would mean; proving beyond reasonable doubt that the victim of domestic violence incurred a mental disorder due to continuous exposure to partner violence.

Temporary sanity is another defense that can be raised by a defendant. In Miller's case, the trial court omitted to instruct the jury regarding the defense of 'temporary insanity' since it was merely a speculation as opposed to being founded on fact (Schmalleger, Hall and Dolatowski, 2009). It was essentially stated that the defendant could have been insane at the time of the commission of the crime even though it was apparent that he was sane before and after the crime had been committed. This is because the defendant was said to have been clinically insane at one point in time (before the incident). The issue of temporary insanity was, therefore, marred with speculation and this could have led the trial court to omit giving the jury instructions regarding the same.

Miller's conviction was reversed and the case was remanded for new trial because the trial court did not consider the defense of temporary insanity and as a consequence the jury was not duly instructed to regard it. I agree with the decision that was reached by the appellate court since defendant's state of mind at the time of the commission of an offence is material since it speaks to the eligibility of the element of mens rea. With respect to the difference between insanity and temporary insanity, this case tells us that whereas the former is constant, the latter only occurs during certain psychotic episodes. The difference between the two is not significant in a case such as Miller's since the needed prerequisite is the presence of the mental disorder at the time the crime was committed.

In the course of a criminal trial, a defendant can present various defenses that speak to the fact that the mental element for the commission of the crime was not present since their thought-processes were inhibited by a mental disorder. Examples of such defenses include; battered woman syndrome and temporary insanity. The latter cannot be defined conclusively since different women respond differently when continuously exposed to partner violence while the former is a legitimate defense if the psychotic episode is proven to be present at the time the crime was committed.

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