RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Arizona's Insanity Defense, Clark, and the 2007 Legislature JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law SP 618 OP 622 DO 10.29158/JAAPL.210033-21 VO 49 IS 4 A1 Joseph D. Bloom A1 Scott E. Kirkorsky YR 2021 UL http://jaapl.org/content/49/4/618.abstract AB In the post-Hinckley era, four states (Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Kansas) abolished their traditional insanity statutes in 1979 in favor of what are in certain circumstances mens rea insanity statutes. These changes were controversial and attracted early attention of legal scholars and courts in the individual states and at the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2006 Supreme Court decision in Clark v. Arizona had distinct but related concerns that helped crystallize the Court's attention on both mens rea and traditional insanity defense statutes. This decision led to a dramatic precedent that may have settled these matters for generations to come. This article will discuss the changes in the Arizona statutory and case law and the interplay between these changes and the important decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court during the same time span. The result of the changes has led to a situation in Arizona where, for the most serious criminal defendants with mental illness, there is no current mechanism to acquit a defendant on the basis of insanity by a mens rea statute or otherwise.