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Mental illness and insanity are not the same thing. Although very similar behaviors may be seen in both conditions, they are still, nonetheless, very different.

The differences between mental illness and insanity in its simplest terms, is that with mental illness, the person may suffer from a mental condition, such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc., but still remain in touch with reality. They usually don't know "why" they suffer from these type of neuroses, but they generally know who they are, where they are, what they are doing and can anticipate the repercussions of their actions.

Some of these individuals will require, and benefit from, different types of treatment and can go on to lead relatively normal lives. There are, of course, different degrees of mental illness, and when the symptoms are of a more serious nature, such as to include auditory and visual hallucinations, severe paranoia, mania, suicidal or homicidal thoughts and tendencies, etc., we then refer to the condition as being psychotic. But even then, the fact that one may be psychotic, does not mean they are insane.

For example, when one thinks of people such as Jeffrey Dahmer, or Ed Gein (both serial killers who ate their victims), they almost always will say that they "had to have been insane" to commit such atrocious acts. And although their acts are sick indeed, it still does not mean they were, at any point, insane.

Defense attorneys pleading "insanity" for clients like these always have a long road ahead of them because it's been shown time and again that these killers, (while far from being normal), are still actually very clever, calculating, organized, intelligent, and very aware.

The determining factor as to whether one is mentally ill or insane, is if the individual knew what they were doing at the time the crime was committed. To determine this, one must look at the evidence.

While we can all agree that their acts and they themselves are "sick", it's the rare individual who commits these acts without foreknowledge of the consequences. And this is where the line is drawn in the sand and the distinction established.

If an individual commits an act, and takes steps to not get caught, they are showing that they were able to think, plan, and process thoughts that are in relation to reality. So if Jeffrey Dahmer would have said he didn't know what he was doing at the time, it would have been quite easy for the prosecutor to prove otherwise. Why? Because of the highly

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