PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS

PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS

Andrew Yates,the wifeof Rusty, was presented in the court for the murder case of their five children by drowning them in the water bath (McLellan, 2006). Andrew’s actions shocked their family and stunned the whole world. She was recognized to have a mental illness where she has been treated by several psychiatrists where she was undermedication. Rusty wasaccused of been unfair for failure to provide proper medication to her and also not getting someonewho would assist Andrew at home. Rusty declared that she was not dangerous to anyone in the community, and she did not expect that she wouldkill their children.

The court was in a dilemma if Andrew was not able to distinguish good and evil, and if it was wiseto offer her a penalty of death sentence (McLellan, 2006). Some of the lawyers declaredthat there was no need to punish her since she killing of her children was enough punishment for her and her husband.After the burial of their children, Rusty said that he had no plan on what to do next, but he said that he would not be with Andrew again since he could not bear that pain anymore.

The decision of whether the court should prove an individual who has mental illness guilty is when the court can understand the effect of the action done by the defendant(Swanson et al., .2015).  This is mental illness can hinder an individual from realizing right or wrong when committing a crime; thus, defense one not to be guilty by insanity.  However, in some cases, the defendant may be proved guilty, but due to his or her health condition may only give a severe punishment. Andrew’s health condition prevented her not have a sense of human when she was killing her five children and also fail to realize that her actions were evil, and it was only harming innocent kids who were to have a bright future. For instance, she confesses in the court that she killed her kids and this shocked people in the court since she talked with confidence without being emotional or guilty of her actions..

Andrew alsoconfesses that she killed her children since she failed to raise them properly, and she wanted to save them, which showed that she did not realize she did not do justice to her children (McLellan, 2006).Unfortunately, even after killing all the five children by drowning them in the water bath, she did not hide them, butshe laid them in the bed side by side. Therefore, this showed that Andrew was not aware of her actions; hence the court was not in a position to prove her guilty since it was because of medical conditions.

Honesty and sincerity that was displayed by Andrew in the court made it difficult for the lawyers to prove her guilty for her actions. This because of how she expressed herself in the court make the lawyersconfused if her mental illness was the primary cause of her actions.  She testified that she killed her kids as a result of the visions and voices that she claims that she was guiding her actions. When she was put in jail, she confessed that it was the Satan who was living inside her, who demanded that she kill the kids.

Transparency of the information about the care should give to enhance easy judgment (Hidey& Moloney, 2014).  This is because the defendant herself explained what she did, and also, her husband disclosesthat she had mental illness though she was attended to several psychiatrists.

References

Hidey, V. A., & Moloney, M. E. (2014). Mental illness and the criminal justice system. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society, 1-5.

McLellan, F. (2006). Mental health and justice: the case of Andrea Yates. The Lancet, 368(9551), 1951-1954.

Swanson, J. W., McGinty, E. E., Fazel, S., & Mays, V. M. (2015). Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: bringing epidemiologic research to policy. Annals of epidemiology, 25(5), 366-376.