Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity (NGRI)

Not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) is a criminal defendant’s plea with the intention to raise an insanity defense. In this case, the accused is claiming that he or she was mentally incapacitated during the act of the crime. Hence, there was no valid intention to commit the crime since a mental condition interfered with logical reasoning. However, it should be noted that the defendants who successfully raise the NGRI may still be confined albeit in a psychiatric facility. Also, they do not have access to parole or probation and are often confined indeterminately since their release depends on the judgment of mental health professionals. A relatively recent and high profile case of this being used as a successful defense was the case of the attempted assassination of President Reagan in 1981. The accused would-be assassin is still being held several decades later.