A bill to modify the insanity defense in the Federal courts, and for other purposes.

Summary

Amends the Federal criminal code to make it a defense to a Federal prosecution that at the time of the offense the defendant, as a result of mental disease or defect, did not understand the wrongfulness of the conduct or was incapable of conforming his conduct to the requirements of the law. Places the burden of proof of insanity on the defendant. Authorizes a special verdict of "not guilty only by reason of insanity." Amends the Federal Rules of Evidence to prohibit expert witnesses from offering opinions on the issue of the insanity of the defendant. Provides for an initial screening examination to determine whether there is reasonable cause to believe that the defendant lacks competence. Allows for a more thorough examination of the defendant if the initial results suggest incompetency. Requires a hearing on the issue of competence and further examination on the issue of the likelihood of the defendant's recovery. Allows for appropriate treatment if necessary. Requires in-patient treatment only when the defendant is dangerous, likely to flee, or in custody. Requires transfer to State officials for State civil commitment of certain defendants who have received the maximum treatment under this section or are found incompetent with no substantial probability of improvement. Allows a person serving a sentence of imprisonment to be transferred to a mental institution upon a showing of clear and convincing evidence that the prisoner is in need of treatment. Establishes Federal commitment procedures for persons found "not guilty only by reason of insanity." Provides for a special examination of violent offenders in order to determine their dangerousness.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

1 official file

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 19 July 1982

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.