page_title: Criminal defenses
section_title: Mental Disorder (Insanity)
hierarchical_section_title: Criminal defenses / Types of defenses / Mental Disorder (Insanity)
caption_attribution_description: English: The Interior of Bedlam (Bethlem Royal Hospital), from A Rake's Progress by William Hogarth, 1763.
context_page_description: In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime, known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the accused may be assigned some burden before a tribunal. However, in many jurisdictions, the entire burden to prove a crime is on the prosecution, which also must prove the absence of these defenses, where implicated. In other words, in many jurisdictions the absence of these so-called defenses is treated as an element of the crime. So-called defenses may provide partial or total refuge from punishment.
context_section_description: Insanity or mental disorder (Australia and Canada), may negate the intent of any crime, although it pertains only to those crimes having an intent element. A variety of rules have been advanced to define what, precisely, constitutes criminal insanity. The most common definitions involve either an actor's lack of understanding of the wrongfulness of the offending conduct, or the actor's inability to conform conduct to the law.  If one succeeds in being declared "not guilty by reason of insanity," then the result frequently is treatment in a mental hospital, although some jurisdictions provide the sentencing authority with flexibility.  As further described in articles available online.
caption: William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress, depicting the world's oldest psychiatric hospital, Bethlem Hospital
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