Characteristics,dispositions,and subsequent arrests of defendants pleading insanity in a rural state

Abstract

Of sixty-eight defendants pleading insanity in Wyoming in 1967–68, two were adjudicated insane. Defendants were primarily white, unskilled or semiskilled males who had not completed high school. Their histories tended to be characterized by sporadic employment, substance abuse, and prior arrests. Although only two were adjudicated insane, the rates of dismissal and nolle prosequi were considerably higher than those for other arrestees.