Distinction between Legal and Medical Test of Insanity

The legal definition of insanity is different from the medical one. First is that the medical and legal standards of sanity are not identical. From a medical point it should be said that every person who commits a crime is not sane at that point, he is not sound, healthy and therefore needs treatment. From a legal standpoint a person is viewed as sane till the time he can distinguish between right and wrong, and knows the act that he is doing is contrary to the law

Secondly, for establishing legal insanity, the person’s cognitive abilities at the time of committing the crime should be destroyed. However, there is no such distinction in the medical sense

Thirdly, the court will look for evidence to support the insanity of the accused before or after the crime. A medical man would recognize that such insanity may prop up at any time, springing up in the mind of the person, not revealed by previous conduct of the accused. However the court shall analyze the previous and subsequent acts of the accused as well as proof of his underlying medical condition to construe his feelings of insanity that disabled his cognitive abilities at the time of commission of the crime

Battered Women Syndrome

The ‘Battered Women Syndrome’ is a psychological theory propounded by Doctor Lenore Walker to help explain why abused women choose to kill their abusive partners instead of simply leaving them. She developed a theory studying the cycle of abuse known as the ‘Walker Cycle Theory’. The ‘Walker Cycle Theory’ explains the three distinct phases of a typical battering relationship. The first is the ‘tension building phase’ during which there are verbal fights between the man and the woman. This leads to an ‘acute battering incident’ i.e. the second phase, which the batterer is filled with uncontrollable anger and rage.

These two phases are then followed by a ‘loving contrition’ phase during which the batterer repents his acts and profusely apologizes, promising to never do it again. This operates as a ‘positive reinforcement to remain in the relationship.’ However, this is a continuous cycle of violence, which soon leads to the ‘tension building phase’. This cyclical violence leads to ‘learned helplessness.’ a psychological state of mind produced by psychologist Martin Seligman where battered women believe that they are in a helpless situation. Considering themselves to be in a hopeless situation over which they have no control, they do not leave their abusers.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge

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