After committing an act of crime some criminals try to play the insanity card to get their sentence/punishment reduced and this viral video on YouTube titled ‘What Pretending To Be Crazy Looks Like’ by JCS – Criminal Psychology shows us how it’s done. 

The 59-minute video studies how criminals try to act insane when being interrogated over major crimes. In the video, three interrogation footage are used to try and show us the difference between ‘what’s real’ and ‘what’s fake.’

To give us a better understanding of how an insane person actually acts like, we are shown two very contrasting interrogations. 

In the first clip, we see a 26-year-old man named Dawson McGee who is taken into police custody after he stabs his own mother. 

Why, what did she do? Apparently, all she did was asked him to move out of the house and get a job, that’s why. 

If you look at the video closely you’ll notice that throughout the interrogation McGee visibly changes his demeanor quite a few times. One moment he would be calm and the other he would be fidgety. 

Even when an officer is asking him questions, McGee seems to be stuttering intentionally and he also claims that he had no idea that he killed his mother. 

His act seemed ‘fake’ and the interrogating officer wasn’t convinced. McGee also wasn’t able to convince the judge or the jury, which is why, he was convicted to life in prison for murder. 

Now, let’s look at a more genuine/authentic case- the case of 18-year-old Jerrod Murray. Murray was taken into police custody after he murdered his sister’s boyfriend, Generro Sanchez. If you see his interrogation clip, you’ll notice a stark difference in behaviour/demeanor between him and McGee. 

During his interrogation, Murray was calm and he intricately described how he killed the young man. He explains everything in detail without trying to defend his actions. 

Unable to figure out what Murray’s motive behind the killing was, the officer questions him and asks him what punishment he thinks he deserves for committing the crime to which, Murray replies ‘death sentence’ because he believes in the concept of ‘an eye for an eye.’ 

Even during an interview with a reporter, Murray seems to show no emotion and he says he is neither proud nor regretful for what he had done. So, simply put Murray was emotionless and he felt nothing. He had no remorse and yet he wasn’t trying to justify his actions in any way. 

Murray was sent to a high-security mental institution for life by reason of insanity. 

So, now that you have an idea of what is fake and real, let’s look at the primary suspect of the video – 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz. This one is a little tricky but, there are major giveaways that will help you come to a conclusion. 

Cruz was taken into police custody after he murdered 17 people in his former high school in Parkland, Florida. He killed 3 teachers and 14 students. And, around 17 students were critically injured during the massacre. 

When he was apprehended by the police he said ‘demons and voices’ made him do it but, when he was interrogated things seemed a bit different. 

If you try to notice his behaviour throughout the interrogation, you’ll see that his demeanour changes frequently, depending upon his surroundings. For example, when the officer is in the room, he looks down, avoids eye contact and talks softly, in hopes to gain sympathy. 

But, just as the officer leaves the room, he looks up at the camera, makes suicidal gestures and pretends to be in distress. 

During the interrogation, Nikolas claims that the demon/voice tells him to “burn, kill, and destroy.” He also gives a sympathetic background story of how he has been lonely and depressed after his mother’s death. 

At one point, Nikolas also pretends to ‘see things’ in the room as soon as the detective leaves for a brief moment. Though, it’s interesting to notice that his act ends as soon as the detective enters the room and engages with him again. 

Nikolas tries his best to try and justify his act by blaming his actions on the so-called demon but, the detective finds loopholes in his argument and confronts Nikolas by telling him to stop the act. 

By the end, Nikolas loses the plot and gets more anxious and agitated and starts hitting himself on his head. He then asks for an attorney and frankly, that seems to be his last hope to get out of jail.  

Unfortunately, now he’s 22 years old and he is still awaiting trial. He’s expected to go on trial this September after delays from the pandemic.

This video got a whole lot of reactions and here are some of them.

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All images are screenshots from the video.