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Show LEGAL INSANITY. Bbonld "TJncontrollablo Impulse" Bai Criminal Conviction? The New Yors Law Journal recently contained ua editorial articlo favoring a modification of tho test of insanity in criminal case& The ability to distinguish distin-guish UaGWeen rlgbfc nd wrong in rot-erence rot-erence to ths ac committed and to know that it was wrong is a standard of mental opacity required in Nes York to render a person responsible fci orimes committed by him. The Law Journal argues in favor of grading punishment according to the mental condition of offenders who may be "partially insane." Many alienists, including Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton, do not recognize "crtial insanity," saying that a person is either sane oi insano. The state in which tho mind acts correctly ns to its judgment, but the will is controller', by some impluse which tho mind cannot master, is noi recognized in many criminal courts, because it has been found that tbe excuse ex-cuse of irresistible impulse led to too great a number of acquittals in oases where defendants wero really guilty of Berious offenses. In civil cases it is easier to deal with persons whose minds are so affected that they cannot come to correot conclusions con-clusions as to certain subjects. The is-ues is-ues at stake aro frequently less important, impor-tant, and it is possible to learn whether a particular act was dono under the influence in-fluence of the delusion or mental weakness weak-ness which affects the person concerned. |