Is the insanity defence being abused by the QLD legal system?

The insanity defence was bought into action in 1843 to protect those suffering from a mental illness/disease at the time of committing a crime, however society’s growing indignant attitude towards these offenders is both destructive and detrimental to the reputation of the Queensland Legal System. The insanity defence is misconstrued by the general public, and viewed as a weak argument-an easy way to get “off” criminal charges, this is not so. Section 27 of the Queensland Criminal Code 1899 (see appendix) clearly states that an offender is not criminally responsible for his/her acts if at the time they were lacking capacity to understand due to mental illness. Although how is the contrary proven? Without specific guidelines stating what is/isn’t a mental illness, without psychological and legal forces joining together to create a comprehensive addition to the current code, the insanity defence remains a grey area for all involved. Therefore the lack of uniformity leaves it open...