CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY AND PSYCHOPATHY

Presenter-Dr. Sifat-E-Syed

OBJECTIVES

Crime and criminal responsibility Relevant issues- Insanity defence,

Diminished responsibility, Automatism, Infanticide

Age of Criminal Resposibility Psychopathy- Definition and story Difference between psychopathy and

sociopathy Diagnosis- By Psychopathy Check list

Crime and criminal

A crime is an act that is capable of being followed by criminal proceedings. It is a man-made concept defined by the rules of the state and modified by legislation, therefore there are differences between countries and across time in the same country.

Criminal- Who commits a crime

What is criminal responsibility?

Criminal responsibility

According to criminal law, committing an act that is socially harmful is not the sole criterion of whether a crime has been committed.

Criminal act must have two components: Voluntary conduct (actus reus) Evil intent (mens rea).

If a person was mentally disordered at the time of an offence this may affect their legal responsibility for their actions.

The relevant legal issues are: Insanity at the time of the offence Automatism Diminished responsibility Infanticide

Synonym- Insanity defence Legal Insanity

Insanity at the time of offense

Daniel Mc Naghten

The story Daniel M'Naghten (1843) murdered Edward

Drummond, the private secretary of Robert Peel(British Prime minister). M'Naghten had been suffering from delusions of persecution for several years, had complained to many persons about his persecutors and finally had �decided to correct the situation by murdering Robert Peel. When Drummond came out of Peel's home, M'Naghten shot Drummond, mistaking him for Peel.

The jury, as instructed under the prevailing law, found M'Naghten not guilty by reason of insanity.

The verdict is known now as the M’ Naghten’s rule

M’Naghten’s Rule

Every man is presumed to be sane, until the contrary be proved, and that to establish a defence on the grounds of insanity it must be clearly proved that at the time of committing the act the accused party was labouring under such a deficit of reason from disease of the mind to not know the nature and quality of the act; or that if he did know it, that he did not know that what he was doing was wrong

In English law, insanity defense is rarely used because it is too narrow and alternative defence for diminished responsibility is available.

Automatism

If an individual commits an offence when his body is not under the control of his mind (e.g. when asleep) he is not guilty of the offence

Individual lacks intention for an offence (Absence of mens rea)

Types

In E&W two legal types of automatism are recognised: Insane automatism- due to an intrinsic

cause (e.g. sleepwalking, brain tumours, epilepsy) results in an acquittal on the grounds of insanity.

Sane automatism- due to an extrinsic cause (e.g. confusional states, concussion, reflex actions after bee stings, dissociative states, night terrors, and hypoglycaemia) results in a complete acquittal.

Automatism is hard to determine retrospectively and the defence is rarely used

Diminshed responsibility

When a person is party to the killing of another, he shall not be convicted of murder if he was suffering from such abnormality of mind (whether arising from a condition of arrested or retarded development of mind or any inherent causes or induced by disease or injury) as substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts and omissions in doing or being a party to the killing

In simpler words- In murder cases, a person's mental condition may be such that although they cannot be fully absolved of responsibility they are found to be of diminished responsibility

If the psychiatric evidence is accepted by the court supporting diminished responsibility, then the defendant will be convicted of manslaughter rather than murder

A finding of diminished responsibility does not result in acquittal, but in conviction for the lesser offence of manslaughter

What is the difference between diminished resposibilty and insanity defence?

Traits Insanity defence

Diminished responsibility

Mental disorder

Severe, overwhelming

abnormality of mind (i.e. a mental disorder not severe enough to deem them as insane

Diagnosis

Dementia, Delirium, Schizphrenia, Other psychosis, sever LD

acute stress reactions, adjustment disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder; personality disorders ; sexual deviation ; mild to moderate LD and pervasive developmental disorders

Other conditions- pre-menstrual syndrome and battered spouse syndrome

Infanticide

In cases involving the killing of a child aged under 12 months by the mother she may be convicted of infanticide instead of murder if the court is satisfied that the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not fully having recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child, or by reason of lactation consequent upon the birth

Age of Criminal responsibility

This is when a child becomes criminally responsible for their actions and the consequences of their actions. From this age onwards, they can be prosecuted for any criminal offence in a Youth Court

Age of criminal responsibility is 10 in England and Wales, 9 in Bangladesh

Psychopathy

Psychopathy is a personality disorder that has been variously characterized by shallow emotions(including reduced fear, a lack of empathy, and stress tolerance), cold -heartedness, egocentricity, superficial charm, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity, criminality, antisocial behavior, a lack of remorse, and a parasitic lifestyle

No psychiatric or psychological organization has sanctioned a diagnosis of "psychopathy“

The DSM has never listed psychopathy as the official term for a personality disorder, although it shares behavioural characteristics with antisocial personality disorder(ASPD)

Assessments of psychopathy are widely used in criminal justice settings in some nations

The term is also used by the general public, in popular press, and in fictional portrayals

psychopaths are, despite the similar names, are rarely psychotic.

Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy

American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade of denials, he confessed shortly before his execution to 30 homicides committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978; the true total remains unknown, and could be much higher (upto 100)

Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer

American serial killer and sex offender. Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with the majority of the murders occurring between 1987 and 1991. His murders involved rape, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. On November 28, 1994, he was beaten to death by an inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution, where he had been incarcerated.

Psychopathy vs Sociopathy

Though psychiatrists often consider and treat sociopaths and psychopaths as the same, criminologists treat them as different because of the difference in their outward behaviour.

By psychologist Robert D. Hare

Psychopathy Check List (PCL-R)

The PCL-R is a clinical rating scale (rated by a psychologist or other professional trained in the field of psychology/psychiatry) of 20 items. Each of the items in the PCL-R is scored on a three-point scale according to specific criteria through file information and a semi-structured interview. A value of 0 is assigned if the item does not apply, 1 if it applies somewhat, and 2 if it fully applies.

Facet 1: Interpersonal Glibness/superficial charm Grandiose sense of self-worth Pathological lying Cunning/manipulative Facet 2: Affective Lack of remorse or guilt Emotionally shallow Callous/lack of empathy Failure to accept responsibility for

own actions

Facet 3: Lifestyle Need for stimulation/proneness to

boredom Parasitic lifestyle Lack of realistic, long-term goals Impulsiveness Irresponsibility Facet 4: Antisocial Poor behavioral controls Early behavioral problems Juvenile delinquency Revocation of conditional release Criminal versatility.

Other items- Many short-term marital

relationships Promiscuous sexual behavior

The official stance of the American Psychiatric Association as presented in the DSM-IV-TR is that psychopathy and sociopathy are misnomers. The World Health Organization takes a different stance in its ICD-10 by referring to psychopathy, antisocial personality, asocial personality, and amoral personality as synonyms for dissocial personality disorder.

OBJECTIVES

Crime and criminal responsibility Relevant issues- Insanity defence,

Diminished responsibility, Automatism, Infanticide

Age of Criminal Resposibility Psychopathy- Definition and story Difference between psychopathy and

sociopathy Diagnosis- By Psychopathy Check list

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