Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
8-1990
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Psychology
Major Professor
Michael G. Johnson
Committee Members
William H. Calhoun, Neil Cohen, John Lounsbury
Abstract
The insanity defense has long been one of the most controversial interfaces for psychology and the law. Popular belief has created several notions about the types of individual likely to use the defense. This dissertation seeks to perform a case study on Knox County, Tennessee to determine how the insanity defense is used there. Data were collected for a six year period on all individuals who were evaluated by state forensic examiners to determine if they were insane at the time their crime was committed. After the data were collected, subjects were divided into three groups: the NGRI, those found not guilty by reason of insanity; the not NGRI, those whose evaluation could not support an insanity defense; and the why not group, those whose insanity plea was supported by the evaluation, but who did not enter an insanity plea. The results showed that some characteristics of those entering a successful insanity plea were helpful, particularly psychiatric diagnosis and marital status. When the data were compared to overall Knox County crime statistics it was found that those evaluated and those found NGRI were disproportionately more white, male, and young, violent felons then the overall Knox County criminal profile.
Recommended Citation
Windham, Donald Lindsey, "The insanity defense in Knox County, Tennessee 1978-84 : a case study. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1990.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/11528
