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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| SENATE BILL |
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| INTRODUCED BY BOSCOLA, ALLOWAY AND WAUGH, MARCH 7, 2011 |
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| REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, MARCH 7, 2011 |
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| AN ACT |
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1 | Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania |
2 | Consolidated Statutes, further providing for the defense of |
3 | insanity. |
4 | The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
5 | hereby enacts as follows: |
6 | Section 1. Sections 314(c) and (d) and 315 of Title 18 of |
7 | the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read: |
8 | § 314. Guilty but mentally ill. |
9 | * * * |
10 | (c) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section and 42 |
11 | Pa.C.S. § 9727 (relating to disposition of persons found guilty |
12 | but mentally ill): |
13 | (1) "Mentally ill." One who as a result of mental |
14 | disease or defect, lacks substantial capacity either to |
15 | appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his |
16 | conduct to the requirements of the law. |
17 | (2) "Legal insanity." At the time of the commission of |
18 | [the act, the defendant was laboring under such a defect of |
19 | reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature |
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1 | and quality of the act he was doing or, if he did know it, |
2 | that he did not know he was doing what was wrong. |
3 | (d) Common law M'Naghten's Rule preserved.--Nothing in this |
4 | section shall be deemed to repeal or otherwise abrogate the |
5 | common law defense of insanity (M'Naghten's Rule) in effect in |
6 | this Commonwealth on the effective date of this section.] the |
7 | offense, the actor was laboring under such a defect of reason |
8 | from disease of the mind as not to know the nature and quality |
9 | of the act he was doing. |
10 | § 315. Insanity. |
11 | (a) General rule.--The mental soundness of an actor [engaged |
12 | in conduct charged to constitute an offense shall only be a |
13 | defense to the charged offense when the actor proves by a |
14 | preponderance of evidence that the actor was legally insane at |
15 | the time of the commission of the offense.] shall not be a |
16 | defense to a charged offense. There shall be no verdict of not |
17 | guilty by reason of insanity. |
18 | (a.1) Admissibility of evidence.--Evidence of legal insanity |
19 | of the actor shall be admissible only for the purpose of proving |
20 | that the insanity rendered the actor incapable of forming the |
21 | requisite intent or state of mind which is an element of the |
22 | offense. |
23 | (b) Definition.--[For purposes of this section, the phrase |
24 | "legally insane"] As used in this section, the term "legal |
25 | insanity" means that, at the time of the commission of the |
26 | offense, the actor was laboring under such a defect of reason[,] |
27 | from disease of the mind[,] as not to know the nature and |
28 | quality of the act he was doing [or, if the actor did know the |
29 | quality of the act, that he did not know that what he was doing |
30 | was wrong]. |
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1 | Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days. |
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