“Insanity” to Be or Not to Be
Many myths are surrounding serial murderers. Over time these myths have been proven
to not be the case with every single serial murderer. The one I want to touch on has to do with
mental illness. People like to believe that every serial murder is insane. When in fact that is not
true at all. Only two to four percent are considered legally insane.
The term insanity is not used in the psychiatric field but for legal reasons. Before a trial
starts the court typically must determine what state of mind the person on trial was in. As the
trial progresses, the court then concludes if the suspect was in a right state of mind, or insane,
when the crime was being committed. Therefore, they will determine how much the accused is
responsible for that crime. Because of this, the term “insanity” does not refer to the person’s
