Is pleading insanity the right choice for you?

When you are faced with criminal charges and the threat of conviction in South Carolina, it can be an extremely traumatic experience. You may worry about the future, the effect a conviction could have on your employment and accommodation options and whether you will receive a prison sentence, taking you away from friends and family.

However, before you give up hope, it is important to remember that you are innocent in the eyes of the law unless you can be proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. In order to preserve this reasonable doubt, there are many lines of defense you could resort to. Sometimes it is enough to simply assert that you did not commit the crime. If you can provide an alibi, this may also help your case.

However, what if you were involved in the alleged crime, but simply had no control over your actions? Living with a mental health complaint is already difficult, yet receiving a conviction because of it could be devastating. Fortunately, as this article on the insanity defense explains, the law in many states takes into account that you may have been unable to understand the consequences of your actions or control your behavior because of a mental illness.

Of course, it is important to bear in mind that using this defense could still affect your future. If you are unable to guarantee that you can exist in society unsupervised without posing a risk to others, you may need a review of your medication, or even to be placed in the care of a medical professional. This could include being institutionalized.

It is important to discuss your planned defense with an attorney before using it in court so you are fully aware of the potential consequences. While this defense might help you avoid conviction, it could still have a significant impact on your future. However, this may still be preferable to the potential consequences of conviction.