The Substantial Capacity Test is used by which jurisdiction?

• A. New York
• B. MPC
• C. England
• D. Federal

Answer: (A)

The Substantial Capacity Test is the insanity standard that asks whether mental disease or defect caused a lack of substantial capacity to either understand the criminal nature of the conduct or to conform that conduct to the law. This formulation comes from the Model Penal Code, which was designed as a middle-ground approach between stricter and broader tests.

New York uses this MPC-based standard, meaning its insanity defense evaluates whether the defendant notably lacked the substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of the act or to conform conduct to the law due to a mental illness or defect. The MPC is a model code, not a jurisdiction, and England relies on a different, historically M’Naghten-based framework, while the federal system operates under its own established standards. Thus New York is the jurisdiction that employs the Substantial Capacity Test.