Not funny-insane, insane-insane

I do not understand the insanity plea. I never have. An explanation for a behaviour is not, in my opinion, a justification for it.

Take the Yates case, in which a mother (and I use the term loosely), drowned her five kids, one after the other, in order to save them from going to hell. I think the idea being that they should die now while they were still pure, instead of risking the corruption of being raised by the self-deprecating mom who new she would only lead them down the wrong path. Or something.

There is absolutely no question that this woman is fucking insane.

But, so what? That means she gets to throw her Get Out of Jail Free card, and literally get out of jail…free? Granted, she will probably spend the rest of her days under observation in an asylum somewhere, which is no kind of life; but that, to me, is a punishment that decidedly does not fit the crime.

I am more aligned with the credo of my man Hammurabi, where if you steal my goat, I get yours. Although I personally am against unnecessary violence and would change “an eye for an eye” to “an eye for imprisonment and heavy public embarrassment” or the like. Either way, I feel that every person is responsible for their actions, no matter how pre-meditated, accidental, or colored by mental deficiency. I am a firm believer that you need to stand up and take what life has dealt you, because that is the honorable thing to do. If my car blows a tire and I inadvertently plow into a bus-stop full of people, I do not deserve to just walk away guiltless. Yes, it was an accident, but nevertheless, there is still the matter of all these dead people.

What do you think?