The McNaughton Rule

The McNaughton Rule is a legal standard used to determine whether a person can be held responsible for a crime due to mental illness. It states that a defendant may be found not guilty by reason of insanity if, at the time of the crime, they did not understand the nature of their actions or did not know that what they were doing was wrong. Essentially, it assesses a person's mental state during the crime to evaluate their culpability, recognizing that severe mental illness can impair judgment and awareness of reality.