Project Summary: As we know, criminal conduct may be excused if the defendant was “legally insane” (or was not “criminally responsible”) at the time of the offense. In order to be found legally insane, the defendant must prove that, as a result of mental disease, he or she was functionally impaired in a legally relevant way at the time of the offense. Read the article by Kinscherff (2010). What if the crime was minor (like theft?) What if the crime was severe (like murder?) Should someone be excused from some criminal acts due to their personality disorder At issue in this article is whether a personality disorder should be permitted to nullify or reduce responsibility for a criminal act