INSANITY DEFENSE PLEAS IN BALTIMORE CITY - AN ANALYSIS OF OUTCOME

Objective: The authors studied all defendants in Baltimore City's circ uit and district courts who pleaded not criminally responsible, Maryla nd's version of the not guilty by reason of insanity plea, during a 1- year period. The study was designed to compare the perception that the insanity plea is misused to actual outcome data. Method: The cohort o f defendants who pleaded not criminally responsible in both the circui t and district courts during calendar year 1991 was identified. Data o n demographic characteristics, crimes committed, diagnoses, and psychi atrists' opinions on criminal responsibility were collected. Trial out come data were obtained through a search of the circuit and district c ourt computer systems. Results: Of the 60,432 indictments filed in the two courts, 190 defendants (0.31 per 100 indictments) entered a plea of not criminally responsible. All but eight defendants (0.013 per 100 indictments) dropped this plea before trial. For these eight cases, b oth the state and the defense agreed that the defendant should be foun d not criminally responsible, and the plea was uncontested at trial. T he remaining defendants bad their charges dropped before trial, remain ed not competent to stand trial at the time of the study, or withdrew their pleas of not criminally responsible before trial. Conclusions: T here wee not trials that contested the plea of not criminally responsi ble. The state and defense agreed with each other for all of the defen dants who actually retained the plea at trial. The perception that the insanity defense is overused and misused is not borne out by data.