stimony.” (Goldstein, 137) This quote was taken from a book entitled, “The Insanity Defense” which was published in 1967. In those days $100 was a lot of money and it is unimaginable to think of what this process costs today, thirty-four years later. It also must be taken into consideration that when the insane are put into these institutions without a “damage award” the public is liable to pay for their stay at the institution. “If the damage award stands, the state will tap into it to pay for the care Williamson is receiving at the state hospital, a bill that is growing at the rate of $300 a day. If he remains hospitalized for several years, there may be no money left when he is discharged.” (Psychiatric news mainframe) In most situations there is no damage award and that money ends up being paid by the average person. The insanity defense is not often used. Overall it is extremely difficult to convince juries that the defendant has a mental illness and couldn’t understand or control what they were doing. “Its always been looked at skeptically. Insanity is the last refuge of desperate defense attorneys.” (National Briefs, pg. 1) When the inconvincible juries are the ones making the decision, is it really worth all the time and money put into these trials when such a small number of them actually succeed? “According to one recent eight state study, the insanity defense was used in less than one percent of the cases in a representative sampling of cases before those states’ county courts.” (psych.org) Prosecutors will then have to prove each year that the criminal remains dangerous and mentally ill in order to keep him/her there. So basically, in the case of a faker, the insanity defense is only allowing for the waste of innocent taxpayer’s money in more ways than one. It costs more to put up a criminal in a state hospital prison than a reg...
