Gray areas in forensic psychiatry.

The field of forensic psychiatry is not always compatible with legalities in our court system, causing some cases to be in a "gray" area. A case is presented, demonstrating shortcomings of the M'Naghten rule, which is meant to protect the mentally ill person from being incarcerated when he is not aware of the nature or the seriousness of the crime of which he stands accused. However, this rule is not applicable when there is awareness, even if the patient is laboring under a delusional system. In the case to be considered, the individual suffers by being given a criminal record instead of being found not guilty by reason of insanity, although the end result is the same.The author feels there should be a much broader interpretation of the M'Naghten rule to encompass the full intent of protecting the mentally ill person but to exclude the sociopath and those with character disorders. The Durham rule is not workable because of this inclusion.