Legal systems around the world have created the possibility of an insanity defense for those who suffer from a mental illness or disorder. On the other hand, the community seems to believe that the insanity defense is abused by criminals to escape imprisonment. Through this literature review, I will attempt to prove whether these common beliefs are true and how easily criminals can use such a defense. I will first show what kind of misperceptions the public has by analyzing Borum and Fulero (1999) and Eric Silver et al. (1994). Next, I will explain the factors that influence attitudes toward the insanity defense and the evaluation of these factors. Additionally, I will analyze expert evaluations of insanity defendants and also include Dutch legal processes as a European example. In order to write this article, I first searched the global catalog. There I tried to capture a general picture of the research that has been done regarding the insanity defense. The next step was to do another search in the Psych info catalog where I selected the latest articles that I will analyze here. A limitation of my research was that most of the research conducted was for the United States. This is the main reason why I will begin by presenting the false beliefs and negative attitudes toward the insanity defense that exist in the United States, without claiming that this is an international problem. The main question of this article is whether the common beliefs against the insanity defense are true or simply the result of misinformation. Since I am going to analyze eight research articles that have been done so far on this issue, it would be appropriate to first clarify a few terms. Two...... middle of paper ......fr when the Dutch legal system was perceived as balanced, there was discrimination between minorities (Barendregt et al., 2008) or in the system Hawaiian legal experts' testimonies were found to be contradictory for the most part (Gowensmith et al., 2013). Global research needs to be conducted to reveal an up-to-date picture of attitudes towards the insanity defense internationally. In this way we will acquire a general knowledge on the question of the defense against insanity and we will then be able to undertake reforms where necessary. However, reforms are not always the solution, but sometimes education is. If the community were better informed about the mentally ill, they would be less likely to discriminate against them and be afraid of them. Ultimately, it seems that the fear of a public outburst makes judges' decisions stricter and more suspicious of the mentally ill...