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4 results

  • Chapter 6 - Psychopathy in the Criminal Law

  • Jim Baxter, University of Leeds
  • Book:
    Moral Responsibility and the Psychopath
    Published online:
    27 August 2021
    Print publication:
    16 September 2021, pp 163-186

  • Summary

    In the final chapter, I turn to the question of how psychopaths should be treated in the criminal law. I begin by sketching the distinctive problem that psychopathy presents for the criminal law, and some broad observations on how it is dealt with currently. I engage first with an argument by Paul Litton which states that the criminal law is an expression of democratic norms, and therefore that any attempt to excuse psychopaths based on their psychopathy should be rejected because it would not command the respect of the public. I then turn to the question of whether psychopaths deserve punishment. I review the various ways in which judgments of criminal responsibility are instantiated in legal tests, and the conditions of responsibility that are implicit in these. Ultimately, I conclude that psychopaths lack capacities which ought to be considered a condition of criminal responsibility, essentially the ability to respond to moral reasons, and not just the ability to know that their actions are legally proscribed.

  • Criminal responsibility assessment in Switzerland: changes and continuity

  • G. Niveau, E. Sozonets
  • Journal:
    European Psychiatry / Volume 16 / Issue 8 / December 2001
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    16 April 2020, pp. 483-490
  • Background.

    The factors that experts use to assess criminal responsibility are not very well known. Changes in the importance attributed to certain diagnoses are occasionally mentioned in the literature. The aim of this study is to identify the existence and the nature of such modifications.

    Method.

    We compared the socio-demographic, criminological and psychiatric characteristics of two samples of psychiatric assessments carried out in Geneva, Switzerland in 1973–74 (N = 75) and 1997–98 (N = 94).

    Results.

    The two groups of subjects described by the experts’ reports appear to be quite different in several characteristics. However, the rate at which experts conclude their reports in favour of diminished responsibility was not found to be significantly different. The logistic regression shows that the diagnosis of personality disorder is the only variable that influenced the experts differently for the 1997–98 period compared to the 1973–74 period.

    Conclusion.

    In Geneva, psychiatric experts still continue to ascribe diminished responsibility to offenders suffering from psychosis or depression. However, the population that undergoes psychiatric assessments nowadays has changed considerably.

  • Dissociative identity disorder: validity and use in the criminal justice system

  • Joel Paris
  • Journal:
    BJPsych Advances / Volume 25 / Issue 5 / September 2019
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    03 April 2019, pp. 287-293
    Print publication:
    September 2019
    • Article
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  • This review examines whether the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID) could be used to support a defence of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ (NGRI, or the insanity defence). The problem is that DID has doubtful validity and can easily be malingered. However, the diagnosis is listed in standard psychiatric manuals. If accepted as valid, DID would have problematic forensic implications.

    LEARNING OBJECTIVES

    After reading this article you will be able to:

    • • understand the history of the DID diagnosis

    • • evaluate the validity of the DID diagnosis

    • • appreciate, from case law, use of DID in support of an insanity defence.

    DECLARATION OF INTEREST

    None.

  • Autism spectrum disorder and criminal responsibility: historical perspectives, clinical challenges and broader considerations within the criminal justice system

  • Owen P. O’Sullivan
  • Journal:
    Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine / Volume 35 / Issue 4 / December 2018
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    30 May 2017, pp. 333-339
    Print publication:
    December 2018

  • There has been relatively limited research focus on autism in the context of the criminal justice system. The relationship between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and criminal responsibility is complex. Furthermore, the features inherent to ASD can have a significant bearing on a wide array of other issues in this context including police interviewing, fitness to be tried, culpability and the appropriateness of custodial disposal. This review explores the background to our understanding of ASD, patterns of offending behaviour and the nature of the relationship between this and characteristic ASD deficits. The clinical and legal challenges posed by ASD defendants in terms of identification, assessment and on a broader service level as they negotiate the criminal justice system are highlighted to illustrate the varied difficulties they may encounter and to draw attention to this field as a worthy area of research and training for the medical, legal and law enforcement professions.