Famous insanity cases LIST [PHOTOS]. The insanity defense is one of the most popularly depicted criminal defense strategies in television and film culture.

In legal definition, the McNaughten rule dictates that a person may be considered not responsible for a crime if his or her state of mind is in a diminished capacity, or he did not know it was wrong. This had given life to the perception that the defense is an easy solution to evading jail time.

For example, the perception was further fueled by the portrayal of Jack Nicholson’s character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, who chose to be committed to a mental hospital to avoid hard labor in jail. Nonetheless, the insanity defense as a strategy is fascinating and its validity widely debated since its inception in the twentieth century, mainly due to the difficulty in proving beyond the reasonable doubt that the criminal was insane during the commitment of their crimes and the ethical implications of allowing deranged criminals to avoid incarceration.

The following list explores some of the most notorious cases and debunks some of their popular misconceptions at the same time. Go here for the list and all the photos.