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M'naghten RULE V. IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE TEST by CHARLES L

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M'naghten RULE V. IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE TEST by CHARLES L M'NAGHTEN RULE V. IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE TEST By CHARLES L. CErrI* INTRODUCTION The proper test for legal insanity is a subject that has been in al- most constant dispute since the celebrated M'Naghten case in 1843.1 This article will attempt to deal with the controversy between two of the various tests that have been proposed as a basis for de- termining legal insanity: the M'Naghten Rule and the irresistible impulse test. In one of the most recent cases involving this dispute the de- fendant was tried for first degree murder and plead not guilty on grounds of insanity. Expert medical testimony indicated that al- though the defendant may have known the difference between right and wrong at the time of the murder, his power to control his conduct had been destroyed by mental disease. On appeal from a conviction of first degree murder, held, affirmed. If defendant knew the difference between right and wrong at the time of the 2 criminal act, he was not legally insane. HISTORY OF TESTS FOR INSANITY* The M'Naghten Rule, or so-called "right and wrong" test for legal insanity, provides a defense against prosecution for criminal conduct if [a]t the time of the committing of the act, the party ac- cused was labouring under such a defect of reason; from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act was doing; or, if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong.3 This has become the accepted test of insanity in a majority of juris- dictions in the United States.4 Federally, the circuit courts of appeals are divided on the M'Naghten Rule as a proper test for legal in- sanity.5 The United States Supreme Court has not committed itself 6 on the subject. *First year student at Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University. 1. M'Naghten's Case, 10 Clark & F. 200, 8 Eng. Rep. 718 (1843). 2. State v. White, - Wash. _ 374 P.2d 942 (1962). 3. M'Naghten's Case, 10 Clark & F. 200, 210, 8 Eng. Rep. 718, 722, as cited in PERKINS, CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE 535 (1959). 4. WEIHOFEN, INSANITY As A DEFENSE IN CRIMINAL LAW 44 (1933). 5. Retaining M'Naghten Rule as sole test for insanity: Howard v. U. S., 229 F.2d 602 (5th Cir. 1956) ; Andersen v. U. S., 237 F.2d 118 (9th Cir. 1956) ; Sauer v. U. S., 241 F.2d 640 (9th Cir. 1957). Using irresistible impulse test in con- junction with M'Naghten: note 21, infra. 6. Leland v. Oregon, 343 U. S. 790, 72 S.Ct. 1002, 96 L.Ed. 1302 (1952). 1963] COMMENTS Sometimes used in conjunction with the M'Naghten Rule is the test frequently labeled the "irresistible impulse" test. It supplements the M'Naghten Rule in the states of Alabama,7 Ar- kansas,8 Colorado, 9 Connecticut, 10 Delaware," Indiana,'2 Illinois,'3 Kentucky,' 4 Massachusetts, 15 Michigan,'8 Utah,'7 Vermont,'8 Vir- ginia,1 9 and Wyoming20 ; and federally in the third, seventh, and eighth 1 circuit courts of appeals. 2 Irresistible impulse is defined as follows: Irresistible impulse as recognized by the courts is an impulse induced by, and growing out of, some mental disease affect- ing the volitive, as distinguished from the perceptive powers, so that the person afflicted, while able to understand the nature and consequences of the act charged against him and to perceive that it is wrong, is unable, because of such men- tal disease, to resist the impulse to do it. It is to be distin- guished from mere passion or overwhelming emotion not growing out of, and connected with, a disease of the mind. Frenzy arising solely from the passion of anger and jealousy, regardless of how furious, is not insanity.22 Recently, a modification of the irresistible impulse test has been adopted by the American Law Institute,2 3 but it has been accepted in only two states, Vermont and Illinois. 24 In addition to the above two tests, there exists a third test, referred 7. Boyle v. State, 229 Ala. 21, 154 So. 575 (1934). 8. Green v. State, 64 Ark. 523, 43 S.W. 973 (1898) ; Korsak v. State, 212 Ark. 921, 154 S.W.2d 348 (1941). 9. Ryan v. People, 60 Colo. 425, 153 P. 756 (1915). 10. State v. Johnson, 40 Conn. 136 (1873). 11. State v. Windsor, 5 Harr. 512 (Del. 1856). 12. Morgan v. State, 190 Ind. 411, 130 N.E. 528 (1921). 13. People v. Varecha, 353 Ill. 52, 186 N.E. 607 (1933); People v. Nierstheimer, 401 Ill. 260, 81 N.E.2d 900 (1948). 14. Murrell v. Commonwealth, 291 Ky. 65, 163 S.W.2d 1 (1942). 15. Commonwealth v. McCann, 325 Mass. 510, 91 N.E.2d 214 (1950). 16. People v. Finley, 38 Mich. 482 (1878). In People v. Durfee, 62 Mich. 487, 29 N.W. 109 (1886), the Supreme Court of Michigan approved a charge to the jury which included the irresistible impulse test. 17. State v. Green, 78 Utah 580, 6 P.2d 177 (1931). 18. Doherty v. State, 73 Vt. 380, 5 Atl. 1113 (1901). 19. Dejarnette v. Corn., 75 Va. 867 (1881); Thurman v. Com., 107 Va. 912, 60 S.E. 99 (1908). 20. Flanders v. State, 24 Wyo. 81, 156 P. 39 (1916). 21. U.S. v. Cain, 290 F.2d 934 (7th Cir. 1961); U.S. v. Currens, 290 F.2d 751 (3rd Cir. 1961); Dusky v. U.S., 295 F.2d 743 (8th Cir. 1961), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 998, 82 S.Ct. 625, 7 L.Ed.2d 536 (1962). 22. 14 Am. JUR. Criminal Law §35, p. 793 (1938). 23. MODEL PENAL CODE §4 (Tent. Draft No. 5, 1956) §4.01. 24. Allen, The Rule of the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code, 45 MARQ. L. REv. 499 (1962). MERCER LAW REVIEW [Vol. 14 to as the Durham Rule. 25 It is used in New Hampshire, 26 Washington, D. C.,27 and has been adopted by statute in Maine. 28 However, it has been rejected in every other court in which it has been considered.29 As this article deals mainly with the controversy surrounding the ir- resistible impulse test, it will not include a discussion of the Durham Rule. OBJECTIONS TO THE IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE TEST There seem to be three primary objections to the inclusion of the irresistible impulse test into tests for legal insanity. The remainder of this article will attempt to deal with these objections. IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSES DUE TO MENTAL DISEASE DO NOT EXIST Many courts rejecting the irresistible impulse test argue that such impulses do not exist. The logic seems to be that if a person knows the nature of his act, and that it is wrong, he cannot be acting on an irresistible impulse. An early statement of this position appears in an opinion written by Brannon, J.: For myself I cannot see how a person who rationally com- prehends the nature and quality of an act, and knows that it is wrong and criminal, can act through irresistible inno- cent impu.lse.3 0 There are two factors which these courts seem to ignore, however. First, there are serious questions concerning the qualifications of legal authorities to express opinions on a subject with which only the most highly-educated medical men are equipped to deal. 31 Second, the great weight of expert medical opinion not only fails to support this position, but directly contradicts it. 25. " . an accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect." Durham v. U.S., 214 F.2d 862, 874 (D.C. Cir. 1954). 26. State v. Pike, 49 N.H. 399, 6 Am. Rep. 533 (1870); State v. Jones, 50 N.H. 369, 9 Am. Rep. 242 (1871). 27. Note 25, supra. 28. MAINE REV. STAT., ch. 49 §38-A (Supp. IV) (1961). 29. Blocker v. U.S., 288 F.2d 853, 866, n. 22 (D.C. Cir. 1961). 30. State v. Harrison, 36 W.Va. 729, 751, 15 S.E. 982, 990 (1892). Quoted with approval by Skeel, J., in State v. Cumberworth, 69 Ohio App. 239, 247, 43 N.E.2d 510, 513 (1942), and by Jeffers, J., in State v. Maish, 29 Wash.2d 52, 60, 185 P.2d 486, 490 (1947). 31. "When a judge states that a person who kncws right from wrong can not be irresistibly impelled to do wrong, he is departing from his judicial function and is .assuming the role of an expert medical witness, for which he is in no way qualified." Keedy, Irresistible Impulse As A Defense in the Criminal Law, 100 U. PA. L. REv. 956, 988 (1952). COMMENTS Edwin R. Keedy,32 in an article entitled, Irresistible Impulse As A Defense in the Criminal Law,33 lists twenty-two works on the subject, supporting the view that irresistible impulses resulting from mental 3 4 disease do exist. Dr. Philip Q. Roche of Philadelphia, chairman of the Com- mittee on Forensic Psychiatry of the Group for the Advance- ment of Psychiatry, recently put to the members of this group the following question: "Are there cases where a person, suf- fering from mental derangement, knows that it is wrong to inflict bodily harm (killing, maiming, ravishing) upon an- other person, but owing to the mental derangement is in- capable of controlling (resisting) the impulse to commit such bodily harm?" One hundred and two answers were re- ceived, of which ninety-three were "yes" and nine were "no".
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