American Psycho Does Insanity Negate Responsibility

Alex Cohen, Garrett Auer, Victoria Meyer, and Emily Sherman Mrs. Haag AP Seminar 26 January 2015 American Psycho: Does Insanity Negate Responsibility? Insanity has made a particularly notable transition into the public eye over the past century. In America, this shift into visibility was marked mostly by Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, John Hinckley, Jr., and - most recently - James Holmes. Before -- and even while -- these individuals provided for nationwide, landmark exposure and attention to crimes committed by the mentally ill, certain precedents set by the Supreme Court further shaped how Americans viewed the culpability of these individuals. M’Naghten (1843) set the precedent for exculpation through ignorance of consequences, and Clark (2005) furthered this precedent by establishing a rigid introduction process for evidence. These decisions and further litigation to the courts set social precedents and norms that, in return, drove cyclical reinforcement of these principles and hinders dissent from established rules in adjudication. Therein lies a bind: while the philosophy on the issue may promote one approach to an issue, reinfor ced stereotypes and past decisions will reflect different priorities in the masses. In exploring the constituent lenses of philosophy, society, legality, and biology, one can holistically view the issue and see that biological dysfunction that hinders thought processes ideally exculpates an individual, but that the current precedents and views of moral