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Arizona's Insanity Defense, Clark, and the 2007 Legislature.
Joseph D Bloom1, Scott E Kirkorsky2
1Dr. Bloom is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Dr. Kirkorsky is a psychiatrist and Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ. bloomj@ohsu.edu.
The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
|September 4, 2021
Summary
Four states replaced traditional insanity defenses with mens rea insanity statutes. Arizona
Area of Science:
- Legal Studies
- Criminal Law
- Forensic Psychology
Background:
- Post-Hinckley era saw four states (Montana, Idaho, Utah, Kansas) adopt mens rea insanity statutes in 1979, replacing traditional insanity defenses.
- These legislative changes generated significant legal scholarly and judicial attention, including at the U.S. Supreme Court level.
- The 2006 Supreme Court decision in Clark v. Arizona addressed mens rea and traditional insanity defense statutes, creating a significant precedent.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the evolution of Arizona's statutory and case law concerning insanity defenses.
- To examine the interplay between Arizona's legal landscape and U.S. Supreme Court decisions on mens rea and insanity defenses.
- To assess the current legal mechanisms for acquitting mentally ill criminal defendants in Arizona.
Main Methods:
- Review of Arizona statutory law changes regarding insanity defenses.
- Analysis of relevant Arizona case law interpreting insanity statutes.
- Examination of U.S. Supreme Court decisions impacting insanity defense jurisprudence, particularly Clark v. Arizona.
Main Results:
- Arizona's legal framework, influenced by national trends and Supreme Court rulings, has shifted concerning insanity defenses.
- The specific legal changes have created a situation where traditional insanity acquittals are no longer possible in Arizona.
- The current legal structure in Arizona may leave seriously mentally ill criminal defendants without an insanity acquittal mechanism.
Conclusions:
- The adoption of mens rea insanity statutes and subsequent legal interpretations have fundamentally altered the availability of insanity defenses.
- Arizona currently lacks a statutory or judicial mechanism for acquitting defendants on grounds of insanity via mens rea or other means.
- This legal gap has significant implications for the treatment and adjudication of criminal defendants with severe mental illness in Arizona.
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