Word: saneness
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...actions. But if a killer is drunk or high on drugs, that kind of rational assessment might be impossible. Passions are often at play that make a cost-benefit analysis unlikely. Most killers are probably not lucid thinkers at their best. Henry Brisbon Jr. (see box) may be legally sane, but he is by ordinary standards demented enough to make a mess of any theory of deterrence. Says New York University Law Professor Anthony Amsterdam: "People who ask themselves those questions-'Am I scared of the death penalty? Would I not be deterred?'-and think rationally...
...could be that Norman Mayer [Dec. 20], who was protesting nuclear weapons, died in a more sane and humane way than the rest of us will...
...must be steady and stable, housing his exceptional combination of gifts within a personality approximately "normal." Among the modern Presidents, the most nearly "normal" personalities are probably Truman, Ike, Ford, Reagan. "I am disgustingly sane," said Ford. It may be significant that Ford and Truman had not aspired to the presidency, and Ike began to think of it only in his late 50s, when he had already won world fame in a job about as big as President. Reagan had had two satisfying careers in the public eye, as actor and after-dinner free-enterprise speaker, before turning to politics...
...SITUATION involving a guilty-but-mentally-ill verdict, the jury would make a two-step determination. First, under the existing standard of ability to distinguish right from wrong, the jurors would decide if the defendant was legally sane at the time he committed the offense for which he is on trial. Only if the jury finds the defendant legally sane can it consider the second question of whether some mental deficiency short of insanity played a role in the commission of the crime. Because the jury uses the current insanity test, any defendant found not guilty by reason of insanity...
...excellent autobiography," Present Indicative. He views with admiration his newest play, telling himself that "it is a truly wonderful gift, my natural and trained gift for dialogue." When one of his plays is panned on Broadway, he retorts: "It cannot be anything but personal. No one in their sane senses could say the lyrics and music of The Girl Who Came to Supper were not good. They are good. Very good indeed...