You know, the insanity plea has always seemed complex to me. If our Justice system is designed mostly to punish, then I suppose the insanity plea makes sense. you don't want to punish somebody that has no control over his actions, however if your main goal is prevention, then the insanity plea should actually lead to a longer time in prison/ institutionalized. Psychological stuff is very difficult to predict and there are no cures, just treatment, therefore those that are insane should actually get longer sentences to protect the general public. Child molesters and Rapist are pretty much a sure bet to offend again if you let them out of jail. Therefore, rapist and child molesters should most likely spend the rest of their lives in jail. Meanwhile most murderers do not repeat, because they are crimes of passion. If we are moving toward a system that wants to prevent crime the mentally ill and violent sex criminals should spend more time in jail than murderers. Most studies show that Punishment is only effective for around 5 years give or take by study, after that its no longer punishment, its just life, and therefore ineffective. Anything over 5 years should then be strictly to prevent repeat offenses. I know it has nothing to do with this article, but essentially the insanity plea should lead to a longer sentence, not a free get out of jail card.

AGAIN.........................­....

Autism and related spectrums are not Mental Illness.

They are Developmental Disabilities. If you are confused, look it up in DSM1,2,3,4,or revised. At least before you group people with Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, Autism, et all, together with Child Molesters, Sex crimes, etc, try to gain some understanding of the spectrum before you come off sounding like the fools you truly are.

Good grief people, educate yourselves.

It's true that Asperger's and other autism spectrum disorders are not mental illnesses. But this isn't a matter of "grouping together" people with developmental issues with child molesters and murderers. Sometimes people with developmental disabilities do commit crimes, even heinous crimes. Mental retardation is one thing, but when it comes to Asperger's, people with he condition are, almost always, not intellectually disabled. They fully possess the ability to comprehend right and wrong, and to understand that their actions will have consequences. To assume otherwise is erroneous.

I do have Asperger's myself; I am not opining from a kind of "outsider" position.

Your argument is a tit for tat argument. From a legal stand point there is no difference between developmental disabilities and mental illness. They both are used to argue the same thing: 1. The person is not responsible for their actions. 2. The person does not understand the consequences of their action. Finally, my point was not that those with Developmental disabilities and those with Mental illness= child molesters and other sex crimes, the point was, and is, that those with mental illness and developmental disabilities cannot be cured. Therefore if you killed/raped/assaulted somebody because of your disability or mental illness, you are more likely to be a repeat offender, and thus from a prevention stand point you should spend more time in jail not less, thus the insanity plea and all copy cat pleas are basically nonsense, unless we admit that our justice system is not about protecting us, but about punishing criminals. If you cannot control your actions, cannot be responsible for them, you have no business being free, you will always need to be in the ward of another. Once you say you are insane you should never be truly free again, you should have to always be in the care of another, or even locked away. using a personality trait (mental illness) or permanent mental health issue (DD) as the reasoning behind letting someone get a lighter sentence or off all together only makes sense if you consider jail punishment, and not about prevention. That is the point our system is based on PUNISHMENT not safety, prevention, or any other word, its based on Punishment and the Insanity plea proves it.