State v. Smith

The majority opinion points out quite accurately that at this stage in the development of criminal law administration there are differing evaluations and views as to the social utility and desirability of the M’Naghten, the ALI, and the Durham tests or rules pertaining to the defense of insanity in the trial of criminal offenses. In my *212judgment the time has come to reject the outmoded M’Naghten test and to adopt the test proposed by the American Law Institute Model Penal Code. Since I am not in agreement with the majority, I deem it necessary to express the reasons for my position.

First, I…