After one experiment one hospital challenged Rosenhan to send them "pseudo-patients" during the next several months. At the end of the period the hospital announced that they had discovered that 12 percent of their admission were "pseudo-patients" from Rosenhan went in fact none had ever been sent.USEFULNESS OF THE INSANITY DEFENSEAs we have already seen, there is much confusion dealing with the placement of insanity and mental illness, it's definition, and even it's very existence. We have likewise seen the use of several of the various testing techniques used to determine mental illness and their shortcomings. This information alone would lead us to believe that the insanity defense needs at least to be revised and improved in many areas. What we have looked at thus far is what precedes the actual judgment of sanity. What we have not looked at, however, is that implementation of the actual judgment of sanity. That is to say, the actual results of the defense when successful. I believe that it is here that we will see the most heinous travesties of justice. There are several decisions which can be reached when insanity is at last proven. These judgements include not guilty by reason of insanity (NGI), and guilty but mentally ill (GMI), with the later verdict not being implemented until the early eighties in an attempt to reform the insanity defense and decrease the amount of NGI verdicts. The NGI verdict is the more dangerous verdict and the one which I believe has the strongest argument against the insanity defense. The objection here is that it allows dangerous men to return to the streets where they commit heinous crimes. Of the 300 persons committed on NGI verdicts 80 percent were released from mental hospitals by psychiatrists, and in several instances these mental patients went on to kill again (Jeffery, 1985;73). My belief is that psychiatrists and mental hospitals do not cure the mentally ill. This is the reality of the insani...
