irresistible impulse test

irresistible-impulse test. Criminal law. A test for insanity, holding that a person is not criminally responsible for an act if mental disease prevented that person from controlling potentially criminal conduct. • The few jurisdictions that have adopted this test have combined it with the McNaghten rules.

— Also termed control test; volitional test. See INSANITY DEFENSE; MCNAGHTEN RULES. [Cases: Criminal Law 50.]

“The first reaction of the legal profession to the irresistible impulse defense, when it was introduced to the law many years ago, was inclined to be favorable. Then a change set in and for many years the prevailing view was strongly against its recognition. Present indications are that the tide is changing again. There seems to be a growing belief to the effect that ignoring the possibility of such a defense fails to give full recognition to the fundamental concept of mens rea.” Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 975 (3d ed. 1982).

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