“Literature as Law”: The History of the Insanity Plea and a Fictional Application within the Law & Literature Canon Article
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Recommended Citation
Cynthia Hawkins DeBose, “Literature as Law”: The History of the Insanity Plea and a Fictional Application within the Law & Literature Canon, 72 Temp. L. Rev. 383 (1999)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
The article presents: (1) a history of the law & literature canon; (2) a substantive analysis and review of the insanity plea from its "Old English" origins through its development in the United States, in general and New York state, in particular -- including relevant quantitative studies of the usage of the plea and, (3) an application of the insanity plea within the law & literature canon.
The article takes a novel approach to the law & literature canon by reviewing a piece of literature as though it were the facts of a criminal murder trial. The phrase "literature as law" has been coined by the author to describe this analytical process. The article culminates in a presentation of relevant law in the fictitious murder trial of the protagonist from the literary novel reviewed which is situated in New York state. The purpose of the article is to illustrate the dichotomy between the actuality of the insanity plea and criminal proceedings in law and their fictional application to literature.