NEW YORK – Naveed Haq did a terrible thing. And he admits pulling the trigger again and again. But he says he’s not guilty by reason of insanity.

Jami Floyd has the last word on the insanity defense.

There is a huge chasm between our everyday understanding of crazy and the legal definition of insanity. The legal standard is almost insurmountable.

Ninety percent of those who raise the insanity defense are diagnosed as mentally ill, but the defense works in only 26 percent of cases. The legal test in most states, including Washington state, is just too narrow. I know prosecutors say it needs to be narrow to prevent abuse. Heck, five states have abolished the insanity defense altogether. Watch the latest trial update

Talk about crazy. The prisons are full of people who belong in mental health facilities. It doesn’t serve justice. Instead of intolerance for the mentally ill, we should reform the law of insanity which in many states dates back to the pre colonial period.

Isn’t it time to take into account all that we now know about mental illness that we didn’t know hundreds of years ago? I think it is.

And that’s the Last Word.

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor