Abstract
This article contains a study of the first four years of the operation of the “guilty but mentally ill” (GBMI) verdict in Pennsylvania. The authors found that the number of successful insanity defenses had been significantly reduced during this period. In addition, the majority of GBMI convictees received hospital treatment. Although the results of this study tend to confirm that GBMI is operating differently in states such as Michigan and Illinois, the Pennsylvania provision cannot be said to be working in a uniform manner, as there are major regional variations in its operation. The authors conclude that there appears to be little or no advantage to a defendant in using or pleading GBMI, but that more research is required to monitor the verdict's continued utilization.
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