{"id":2657420,"date":"2026-09-10T08:54:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaign3-basic-definitions-that-many-lindsay-clancy-pundits-get-wrong\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T09:00:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:00:51","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaign3-basic-definitions-that-many-lindsay-clancy-pundits-get-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaign3-basic-definitions-that-many-lindsay-clancy-pundits-get-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Basic Legal Definitions That Many Clancy Pundits Get Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaign3-basic-definitions-that-many-lindsay-clancy-pundits-get-wrong%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2657420&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the widespread public and media reactions to the Lindsay Clancy case in Massachusetts, where she admitted to killing her three children. It highlights common misunderstandings about mental health terminology used in legal contexts, clarifying differences between conditions such as bipolar disorder, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rikki-schlott-how-tiktok-has-become-a-dangerous-breeding-ground-for-mental-disorders\/\" title=\"Rikki Schlott: How TikTok Has Become a Dangerous Breeding Ground for Mental Disorders\">borderline personality disorder<\/a>, psychosis, and psychopathy. The piece emphasizes that mental health conditions like mood and personality disorders do not automatically qualify as insanity defenses under U.S. law, which requires proof that the defendant lacked understanding of right and wrong at the time of the crime. It notes the confusion between terms like psychotic (relating to disconnection from reality) and psychopathic (related to a personality lacking remorse or conscience). Additionally, the article explains that in Massachusetts, the burden of proof for insanity is on the prosecution due to the state&#8217;s reversal of the typical legal standard, which may have contributed to the trial&#8217;s delays.it underscores the importance of precise terminology and legal standards in understanding such cases.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The public furor over the Lindsay Clancy case concerning the Massachusetts mother who admitted she strangled her three young children shows that Americans have very little idea what \u201cinsanity,\u201d \u201cpsychosis,\u201d and other terms mean in the courtroom.<\/p>\n<p>There are no reliable polls of the general public that can accurately establish what percentage of the public is sympathetic to Lindsay Clancy. But social media discourse appears to show substantial and widespread sympathy. However, it\u2019s likely that many people who feel that way misunderstand the specific psychiatric and legal claims being made by the defense and the prosecution. They might change their view with a more specific understanding of terminology. <\/p>\n<p>Clancy\u2019s defense rests on the proposition that she had a mental defect or disease that made her incapable of being criminally responsible for the killings. In lay terms, this is what\u2019s called \u201cnot guilty by reason of insanity.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Bipolar or Borderline?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The same handful of terms and concepts come up in online and media debates over the Clancy case and similar crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Some people claim <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MinneauxTex\/status\/2095986081875304792\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clancy was \u201cbipolar\u201d<\/a> (the newer term for what we called \u201cmanic depression\u201d). Bipolar is a mood disorder. Sufferers generally cycle between \u201cmanic\u201d states of excitable behavior and longer states of profound depression.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/post\/lindsay-clancy-trial-update-rebuttal-testimony-continues-case-mom-killed-kids-live\/19727150\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Experts in the Clancy case disagreed<\/a> on whether she displayed any signs of bipolar disorder. An argument can be made that Clancy\u2019s behavior aligns more closely with a different condition: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/borderline-personality-disorder\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20370237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Borderline Personality Disorder<\/a>. Borderline is a <em>personality<\/em> disorder, which is different than a <em>mood<\/em> disorder like bipolar\/manic depression. Borderline Personality Disorder describes individuals with rapidly shifting extreme moods and difficulty controlling their emotions and behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Even professionals confuse these conditions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.antoniocasella.eu\/archipsy\/Ruggero_2010.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A 2010 study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research<\/a> found that of 610 psychiatric patients surveyed, 52 patients met the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder. Of those 52 patients, 40 percent reported having previously been misdiagnosed with bipolar\/manic depression.<\/p>\n<p>Neither mood disorders like bipolar nor personality disorders like Borderline qualify as \u201cinsanity\u201d under the legal system\u2019s definition. <del><\/del><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Psychotic or Psychopathic?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cPsychotic\u201d and \u201cpsychopathic\u201d are frequently confused with each other when <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >people describe extreme mental states<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This confusion has been obvious in online commentary about the Clancy case. Even people who believe that Clancy knew what she was doing and should be held criminally responsible for killing her children seem to be mistakenly calling her \u201cpsychotic\u201d when they probably mean \u201cpsychopathic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/6thtimeisacharm\/status\/2095990651670216809\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">This post<\/a> could stand in for hundreds or thousands:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The only one guilty is Lindsay Clancy, she was a nurse, she knew what drugs to pretend to take. She\u2019s a psychotic narcissist.  I pray she rots in prison, an institution is too good for her. She did it intentionally to destroy her husband, jmo. Evil does exist \ud83d\udc7f<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chandler Bing, no not that one\u2026\ud83c\udf4a (@6thtimeisacharm) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/6thtimeisacharm\/status\/2095990651670216809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>A psychopath has a personality disorder characterized by having no conscience or remorse (\u201cpsychopath\u201d is a term used colloquially and professionally for what is formally called \u201canti-social personality disorder\u201d). Serial rapist and murderer Ted Bundy is widely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/basics\/psychopathy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accepted to have been a psychopath<\/a>. He had no regard for his victims, and no remorse about visiting horror and violence on them.<\/p>\n<p>But \u201cpsychosis\u201d means that a person is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/understanding-psychosis-a-helpful-guide-for-health-professionals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not in touch with the real world around them.<\/a> Psychosis can be brought on by schizophrenia, sleep deprivation, a severe head injury, or drug overdose. Otherwise mentally healthy people can and do sometimes enter psychotic states, though rarely.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Legal Insanity Is and Is Not<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a disjuncture between what the lay public and the U.S. legal system mean by \u201cinsane.\u201d The everyday definition people use includes many things we find weird or inexplicable. People will call violent criminals \u201cinsane\u201d when those criminals know perfectly well what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>The Clancy trial discourse demonstrates this. Many people who appear <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/08\/18\/postpartum-depression-or-not-lindsay-clancy-should-be-executed-for-murder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unwilling to accept that women and mothers are capable of evil acts<\/a> as much as men and fathers have decided that a murdering mother <em>must<\/em> be \u201cinsane.\u201d This is circular reasoning and has the effect of morally excusing violent and evil actions.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. jurisprudence has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/insanity_defense\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">very specific definition of \u201cinsanity,\u201d<\/a> and only a minority of defendants in criminal cases meet the test. In the U.S. system, a person is considered \u201cinsane\u201d only when shown to be unable to tell the difference between right and wrong. In some states, there\u2019s an additional prong to the insanity test \u2014 was the person <em>unable <\/em>to conform his behavior to the law. USLegal.com <a href=\"https:\/\/criminallaw.uslegal.com\/defense-of-insanity\/the-american-law-institutes-model-penal-code-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">describes it this way:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n[T]he American Law Institute (ALI) designed a new test for its Model Penal Code in 1962. Under this test, \u2018a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/not-exaggerating-dem-lawmakers-bill-would-make-it-legal-to-attack-police-officers\/\" title=\"Not Exaggerating: Dem ...maker&#039;s Bill Would Make It Legal to Attack Police Officers\">lacks substantial capacity<\/a> either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is a difficult standard to meet, which is why the insanity defense is only successful in a minority of cases where it\u2019s pleaded. <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/1786413\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A benchmark 1991 study<\/a> found that 26 percent of insanity pleas are successful. It\u2019s unclear if that rate has changed substantially over the years.<\/p>\n<p>This is why it\u2019s crucial to understand exactly what is meant by terms like \u201cpsychotic\u201d and \u201cpsychopathic.\u201d For a defendant to prove that she was in a psychotic state that rendered her not criminally responsible, she must prove to the law\u2019s satisfaction that she was unaware of right and wrong and\/or she was unable to stop herself from committing the crime.<\/p>\n<p>A psychotic often doesn\u2019t know right from wrong. A psychopath (without psychosis) knows the difference, but doesn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/diseases\/cluster-b-personality-disorders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cluster B personality disorders<\/a> by themselves without additional or aggravating factors do <em>not<\/em> count as mitigating factors in the insanity test in U.S. courts, because these personality defects don\u2019t mean the defendant did not know right from wrong.<\/p>\n<p>An article in the <a href=\"https:\/\/open.mitchellhamline.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1281&#038;context=mhlr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mitchell Hamline Law Review<\/a> summarizes the general position of U.S. courts:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>For purposes of the insanity defense, personality disorders do not, and should not, qualify as severe mental illness . . . . Those with personality disorders are excluded because they, by their disorder\u2019s very definition, do not qualify under the insanity test.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Burden of Proof Reversed<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Another legal peculiarity in the Clancy case has stymied public perception. Massachusetts is one of only seven states that reverse the burden of proof when the insanity defense is raised.<\/p>\n<p>In most states, if a defendant claims to have been insane, he has to prove it. But in seven states \u2014 Colorado, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and West Virginia \u2014 it\u2019s the other way around. If the defendant claims she was insane, the prosecutor has to prove that she was not. This asks the state to prove a negative: \u201cNo, you were not insane, and here\u2019s how we can prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That portion of Massachusetts law may be the reason the Clancy case dragged on for so long before the judge declared a mistrial on Sept. 4. The jury was likely arguing over whether the prosecution had proven that Clancy was sane and therefore criminally responsible, which prevented them from straightforwardly finding her guilty of the killing of her children, even though she admitted doing it.     <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Joshua Slocum is a writer and commentator focused on the rise in abusive and narcissistic behavior in American society. His weekly podcast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCF_kJax21k2zVlc3tJn-22Q\">  &#8220;Disaffected&#8221;<\/a>, and the show\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.disaffectedpod.substack.com\">  Substack<\/a>, analyze cultural trends through the lens of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lockdowns-gave-the-next-generation-the-worst-personalities\/\" title=\"Lockdowns Gave The Next Generation The Worst ...alities\">negative personality traits<\/a> that mirror the psychology of domestic and child abuse.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public confusion on legal terms in Lindsay Clancy case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3994,"featured_media":2657421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/judge-1-e1788956374349.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[85426,85424,71960,53681,85425],"class_list":["post-2657420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-basic-law-concepts","tag-clancy-pundits","tag-legal-definitions","tag-legal-terminology","tag-misunderstanding-laws"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/judge-1-e1788956374349.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3994"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2657420"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2657424,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657420\/revisions\/2657424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2657421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2657420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2657420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2657420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}