Criminal Insanity A mental defect or disease that, as understood in most states, makes it impossible for a person to know what he or she is doing; or if he or she does know, to know that what they are doing is wrong.
criminal insanity - Lack of mental capacity to do or abstain from doing a particular act; inability to distinguish right from wrong.
criminal summons - An order commanding an accused to appear in court.
The M'Naghten rule on criminal insanity is named for Daniel M'Naghten, who, in 1843, tried to kill England's prime minister Sir Robert Peel.
The earliest and most common test for criminal insanity, in which a criminal defendant is judged legally insane only if he could not distinguish right from wrong at the time he committed the crime.
Many jurisdictions have followed the Model Penal Code in basing criminal insanity on either of two factors: an inability to appreciate the wrongfulness of an act, which reflects the influence of the M'Naghten test, ...
 See also: Time, Law, Criminal, Insanity, Term
  
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