The ALI rule, or American Law Institute Model Penal Code rule, is a recommended rule for
instructing juries how to find a
defendant in a
criminal trial
Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail ...
is
not guilty by reason of insanity.
[''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, ]Wolters Kluwer Law & Business
Wolters Kluwer N.V. () is a Dutch information services company. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands (Global) and Philadelphia, United States (corporate). Wolters Kluwer in its current form was founded in 1987 with a m ...
; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder,
/ref> It broadened the M'Naghten rule of whether a defendant was so mentally ill
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
that he is unable to "know" the nature and quality of his criminal act, or know its wrongfulness, to a question of whether he had "substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of isconduct".[ It also added a volitional component as to whether defendant was lacking in "substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the law".][ It arose from the case of '' United States v. Brawner.][
The ALI rule is:
::''"(1) A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease of defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.''
::''"(2) As used in this Article, the terms "mental disease or defect" do not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct ection 4.01"''
]
References
{{reflist
Criminal defenses
United States criminal law
Insanity in law