Mental Health in the Criminal Justice System: What's the Difference Between Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity and Incompetent to Stand Trial?

We've all heard about the Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity — or NGRI — defense that is sometimes used in court- but what exactly does it mean? How common is this defense used? Would it be easy for a defendant to successfully fake a mental illness in order to employ this defense?

To get answers, we spoke with someone who works in the field. We verified her experience but because she is still active in this area, she asked that we not use her name or identifying information.

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