21 June, Hinckley, the man who attempted to assassinate President Reagan found not guilty by reason of insanity

Ronald Reagan became the first sitting U.S. President to survive being shot in an assassination attempt 30 March, 1981 .

A bullet ricocheted and hit the President who was leaving a speeding engagement and heading for his limousine. Reagan’s press secretary James Brady and police officer Thomas Delahanty lay wounded on the ground. Brady suffered permanent brain injury from the head shot and died of complications some years later.

21 June, 1982 Hinckley, who never denied that he had fired six shots at the President, was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Hinckley’s defense attorneys argued that Hinckley was not in touch with reality. He had an obsession with the 1976 film Taxi Driver, and the lead actress Jodie Foster. In the movie, the main character attempts to assassinate a presidential candidate. The Defendant has watched the move more than a dozen times and his mental state convinced him that he was the fictional would-be-assassin in the movie.

The bottom line was that the movie was the driving force behind the attempted assassination.

Since the high profile trial, with a large majority of Americans outraged at the outcome, the insanity plea has not been as successful as National Institute of Justice points out.

This video, in the Crime File series, delineates the issues associated with the insanity defense, with a particular focus on the John Hinckley, Jr., case. Three panelists are questioned by the moderator regarding the parameters of the insanity defense as it has been used and has recently been redefined in some States. Crime File was a series of videos released between 1984 and 1990. They reflect the state of research and the criminal justice system at the time they were produced. Crime File was produced by the Police Foundation under a grant from that National Institute of Justice.