andrea yates paper

Was She Insane? The case of Andrea Yates

Andrea Pia Kennedy; formerly Andrea Yates; born  July 2, 1964 confessed to drowning her five children in their bathtub on  June 20, 2001. Yates had been diagnosed postpartum depression and  postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder. Yates attempted twice and was  treated at a psychiatric facility.The case placed the M'Naghten Rules,  along with the Irresistible Impulse Test, a legal test for sanity, under  close public scrutiny in the United States. She was convicted of  capital murder. After the guilty verdict, but before sentencing, the  State abandoned its request for the death penalty in light of false  testimony by one of its expert psychiatric witnesses. She was sentenced  to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. The  verdict was overturned on appeal. On July 26, 2006, the Texas jury in  her retrial found that Yates was not guilty by reason of insanity. She  was consequently committed by the court to the North Texas State  Hospital, a high-security mental health facility. Yates received medical  until January 2007, when she was moved to a low security state mental  hospital in Kerrville.

Assignment Outcomes:

• Explain the general facts of the case and the holding while  defining guilty by reason of insanity, the M'Naghten Rule and the  Irresistible Impulse Test.
• Yates was retried and found not guilty based on her defense that  she suffered from postpartum psychosis – a mental illness – a mitigating  factor in determining punishment. Do you agree with this as a valid  defense?  Support with empirical research only, not your opinion.  Incorporate as much material as applicable from class and 2 other  outside sources.
• The essay must be APA format, at least 3 pages in length in actual  content, double-spaced, using 12-point font with 1-inch margins and  include at least 3 legitimate sources. You can use the  Library  Database system to search articles/ newspaper articles. Must have in text citations that match references!!  Wikipedia,  blogs, websites, and other nefarious sources of dubious credibility are  not acceptable sources.