 | This article relies on a single source. (May 2024) |
The ALI rule, or American Law Institute Model Penal Code rule, is a recommended rule for instructing juries how to find a defendant in a criminal trial is not guilty by reason of insanity.: 614–5 It broadened the M'Naghten rule of whether a defendant was so mentally ill that he is unable to "know" the nature and quality of his criminal act, or know its wrongfulness, to a question of whether he had "substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of [his] conduct".: 614–5 It also added a volitional component as to whether defendant was lacking in "substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the law".: 614–5
It arose from the case of United States v. Brawner.: 634 , in which the court first adopted the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code rule, thereby moving away from the Durham rule.
The ALI rule is:
- "(1) A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.
- "(2) As used in this Article, the terms "mental disease or defect" do not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct [Section 4.01]."