Insanity In Me Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1%

The Insanity Defense is used in a very small percentage of cases before the courts in the United States. When used, it is only successful about 26% of the time. However, when it is used, it typically creates a lot of public debate which may make it seem as though it is used more often.

Answer: 1850s

The temporary insanity defense implies that an individual was insane when the crime was committed, and is no longer insane at the time of the trial. It was first used in the US in 1859 by a New York Congressman named Daniel Sickles when he killed his wife's lover. It was also used by Charles Guiteau who assassinated President Garfield in 1881.

Answer: Ezra Pound

Despite modern day psychiatrists questioning his diagnosis, Pound was found not guilty due to insanity in the mid-1940s for his actions on the radio. He often went on anti-Semitic and anti-American rants during the war on foreign radio stations. He spent twelve years in an asylum after his trial.

Answer: Teddy Roosevelt

Schrank shot Teddy Roosevelt before he became president, while he was campaigning in Wisconsin in 1912. Schrank claimed that former president William McKinley appeared in his dreams and told him to shoot Roosevelt. He was found not guilty due to insanity and was sentenced to life in an asylum. Thankfully, the bullet lodged in a bunch of papers that Roosevelt had in his breast pocket, thus saving his life.

Answer: His wife was murdered with an ax and his daughter was drowned.

Lee Robin was a doctor who murdered his family in 1988. He waited for police to arrive and told them that the bodies "were upstairs". He spent ten years in a mental health facility after the trial before being released.

Answer: He was sleepwalking.

Steinberg admitted to stabbing his wife 26 times in 1981. However, he claimed that he was sleepwalking at the time. The jury found him not guilty due to temporary insanity because he was not in his normal state of mind at the time.

Answer: False

Despite a long history of mental illness, Dahmer was unsuccessful with the Insanity Defense. He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences for his vicious crimes that included rape, murder, and cannibalism. He died in jail in 1994.

Answer: He claimed insanity, but was found guilty.

Gacy was tried for the murder of 33 men and boys. Despite claiming insanity, that plea was rejected and he was found guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to die by lethal injection. His execution took place in 1994.

Answer: True

John Hinckley Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982 after he attempted to assassinate the President. He stated that he was simply trying to impress actress Jodi Foster. He was released from a mental hospital in 2016, 30 years after the shooting. At the age of 61, he was deemed to no longer be a public threat.

Answer: Her husband's penis.

Bobbitt cut off her husband's penis after what she declared was years of physical, mental, and emotional abuse. She was committed to a mental hospital, but a judge ordered her release after only five weeks. Her husband's penis was surgically reattached and the couple moved on to separate lives.