Dan Greenstone

Madness on Trial: John Hinckley Jr. and the Insanity Defense

No. of episodes

13

Latest episode

2026-04-12

Where can you listen?

John Hinckley Jr.’s acquittal was the most important insanity defense case of the past century. Join hosts Dan Greenstone, Travis Chandler and Daniel Mokrauer-Madden, as they trace how one young man’s obsession with movie star Jodie Foster curdled into a bizarre assassination attempt on President Reagan. The hosts talk with the country's leading historians, psychiatrists, lawyers, and scholars of the insanity defense to help make sense of this fascinating and momentous story that horrified a nation, started a national conversation about mental illness, and changed the justice system forever.

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