automatism and insanity Flashcards
Question: What are the two types of automatism?
Answer: Insane automatism (caused by disease of the mind, internal factor) and non-insane automatism (caused by an external factor).
Question: What is an involuntary action in the context of automatism?
Answer: It refers to when the defendant (D) is not conscious of what he/she is doing.
Question: What is the key issue when distinguishing between insanity and automatism?
Answer: Whether the cause is internal (mental/physical illness) or external (e.g., knock on the head, taking insulin).
Question: Define “Automatism” as a legal defense.
Answer: Automatism is an involuntary act done by muscles without control of the mind, leading to acquittal as it is a complete defense.
Question: What are examples of external causes that may lead to automatism?
Answer: Hypoglycemia from taking insulin without eating, a knock on the head, or a PTSD-inducing event like a swarm of bees (e.g., Hill v Baxter).
Question: Can automatism be used as a defense if it is self-induced?
Answer: The defense is available if the defendant (D) was not reckless in inducing the automatism. If D was reckless, it is only available for specific intent offenses.
Question: What does the defense of automatism require in terms of control?
Answer: It requires a total loss of voluntary control (e.g., AG’s Reference No.2 of 1992 – driving without awareness is insufficient as it indicates partial control).
Question: How is automatism related to intoxication?
Answer: Automatism cannot be used if the condition was recklessly self-induced, similar to voluntary intoxication (e.g., taking drugs or alcohol against advice).
Question: What is the M’Naghten rule for insanity?
Answer: Insanity requires a “defect of reason” due to a disease of the mind that affects the defendant’s ability to understand the nature and quality of the act or the wrongness of the act.
Question: What is an example where automatism cannot be used for basic intent offenses?
Answer: In Bailey, automatism was not allowed where D knew of the risk of acting aggressively/dangerously.
Question: Give an example of an internal cause that qualifies as a disease of the mind under insanity.
Answer: Examples include diabetes (Hennessy), epilepsy (Sullivan), or sleep disorders (Burgess).
Question: What happens if a defendant knows what they are doing but doesn’t know it is legally wrong?
Answer: They can still plead insanity (e.g., in Windle, D suffered from a mental illness but knew what he did was wrong, so no insanity defense applied).
