Criminal insanity is a topic which sparks much heated debate.
Is insanity a physical or psychological problem? Is insanity actually a disease, or just a .
figment of a person's imagination? Grolier's Encyclopedia describes insanity as "a mental .
defect or disorder sufficient to prevent a person from knowing right and wrong conduct or .
from understanding the nature of his or her actions". Some traits or dispositions are .
inherited, but the continuity of behavior, including antisocial activity, is maintained by .
social contexts and other aspects of the environment. If a criminal does not know the .
difference between right and wrong, can they be held accountable for the crimes they .
commit? If they don't understand what they are doing is a crime, should they be punished .
as if they were criminals or treated as patients with a disease? This problem has plagued .
courts, lawyers, juries, and defendants for a long time and does not appear any closer to a .
solution. One belief to why people first become criminally insane is because of the way .
they were treated as children.
There are many examples to support this theory, which can be found throughout .
history. One example, a name known throughout the states, is Charles Manson. Charles .
Manson's home life was not what we would call normal. In fact, he was the son of a .
teenage, bisexual, alcholic prostitute, and once was traded for a single pitcher of beer. .
Another example is Henry Lee Lucas, a famous serial killer who, as a child, .
lost an eye after a severe beating by his mother. (Serial.) These cases as well as many .
others seem to indicate a correlation between abuse as a child and violent tendancies as an .
adult. Many killers have been subjected to brutalizing treatment that generated .
overwhelming hostile and ultimately murderous emotions. Many have been beaten .
repeatedly or sexually abused as children. (Methvin.) Another link has been found .