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Cruelty To The Mentally Ill: An Eighth Amendment Challenge To The Abolition Of The Insanity Defense, Stephen M. Leblanc
Cruelty To The Mentally Ill: An Eighth Amendment Challenge To The Abolition Of The Insanity Defense, Stephen M. Leblanc
American University Law Review
This Comment addresses the present gap in insanity-defense laws
created by the defense’s abolition and offers an Eighth Amendment
based remedy. Part I reviews the history and evolution of the insanity
defense in Anglo-American law. It then describes how four states
have statutorily abolished the defense. It concludes with a discussion
of Clark v. Arizona, the Court’s most recent decision on the
constitutionality of the insanity defense. Part II turns to the Eighth
Amendment, examining its historical understanding and the
contemporary evolving-standards-of-decency analysis, through which
the Court assesses the constitutionality of modern-day punishments.
Part II concludes with a discussion of …