Abstract
This article traces the history of the insanity defense and reviews the controversies surrounding it. It compares the “wild beast test” introduced by Justice Tracy in 1723 with the criterion proposed by the Reagan administration following the attempted assassination of the president by John Hinckley. It assesses the role of the psychiatrist as an expert witness and that of the jury in defense-of-insanity trials, and reviews the press that both received following the Hinckley trial and jury verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
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