Let’s say someone goes after someone else with a knife, unprovoked. The perpetrator is arrested and charged with aggrivated assault with a deadly weapon. However, during an investigation, the judge finds that the perpetrator has anger issues, had been in and out of the psychiatric hospital, and an assisted living facility that they got kicked out of because they weren’t given any help and fell through the cracks. The victim can prove damages through medical bills.
The perpetrator’s lawyer recommends pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. Will the victim recieve restitution? Or does the perpetrator get off scot free without paying a dime or doing any time?
Laws are different in every state, and I’m not a criminal defense attorney - but the’s no insanity defense in civil law. Even if a not guilty by reason of insanity decision results in finding no restitution, the victim can always sue the perpetrator for assault.
Also, as a side note - the insanity defense rarely works, and usually (again, it varies by state) requires evidence of true delusion, not just anger issues. In your hypothetical, it would take proving something close to the perpetrator honestly believed the victim was a sack of potatoes, or a clone of Adolph Hitler.
Even the people who are successful with the defense often find themselves locked up in institutions for longer than they would have spent in prison - they don’t go free.
I’m not trying to be a pedant here - it’s just that “pressing charges” is one of those terms that somewhat of a warped definition in popular culture, as compared to the law (a lot like the insanity defense).
In criminal cases, “pressing charges” just means testifying. The prosecutor is the one that brings charges - the victims don’t have that much of a say in that, except in the sense that a victim can refuse to testify against the perpetrator, which usually would result in charges being dropped.
On the other hand, if you were assaulted (or battered, from what you describe) - and can prove damages - you should sue. Assault is a tort as well as a crime, and as I said before, there’s no insanity defense in civil law.
You said this happened in a psych ward - does the psych ward know about it? In other words, was it reported to/witnessed by any techs, nurses, doctors, patients, etc?
The reason why I asked this question is that my neighbor’s girlfriend is in jail for this and is going to go the NGRI plea. I do wonder where it is she might be going and what it will be like there. Thus, I’m watching documentaries on forensic psych wards.
Many of them seem rehabilitating and not focused on punishment.
And I have to be honest and admit that in the OP I’m upset that the victims may not be getting restitution.
If you are found to be not guilty by insanity, you still have to go to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. It’s almost a fate worse than death IMHO.
As far as damages, I would not expect much. How much can one possibly pay while sitting in a Mental Ward, or after they are released from one especially since their only income may be from social security?
