A Defense of the Integrationist Test as a Replacement For the Special Defense of Insanity

The principal argument advanced in the article and chapter is that the special excuse for people with mental disability known as the insanity defense should be reconsidered now that modem criminal law, in particular the Model Penal Code (MPC), has subjectivized affirmative defenses such as self-defense and duress for people who are not mentally ill. The claim presented is that these latter defenses capture the universe of people who should be excused due to mental illness. That position, if accepted, means that people with mental illness could be integrated into the culpability framework that applies to people who are not mentally ill and need no longer be handled through an independent excuse doctrine.