Diminished Responsibility

Question 1

what is the definition of diminished responsibility?

Answer 1

-(S.2 Homicide Act 1957) as amended by (S.52 Coroners and Justice Act 2009)

1. d suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning
2. arose from a recognised medical condition
3. substantially impaired d’s ability to do one of the following:
   - understand the nature of his conduct
   - form a rational judgement
   - exercise self control
4. Provides an explanation for d’s act or omissions

-burden of proof-d who raises the defence has the burden of proving it on a balance of probabilities

Question 2

what is the first step of diminished responsibility?

Answer 2

abnormality of mental functioning

-(Byrne)-‘state of mind so different from that of ordinary human beings that the reasonable man would term it abnormal

Question 3

what is the second step of diminished responsibility?

Answer 3

arising from a recognised medical condition

• (Coroners and Justice Act 2009)-any condition in either:
  
  • World Health Organisation’s international classification of diseases
  • American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual of mental disorders
• (Byrne)-psychotic disorders
• (Ahluwalia)-‘battered wife syndrome’

Question 4

what is the third step of diminished responsibility?

Answer 4

which substantially impairs

• must impair d’s ability to do one of the following:
  
  • understand the nature of his conduct OR
  • Form a rational judgement OR
  • Exercise self control
• (Egan)-does not need to be total impairment but must be more than trivial impairment
• (Golds)-impairment must be ‘significant or appreciable’

Question 5

what is the fourth step of diminished responsibility?

Answer 5

causation-abnormality of mental functioning provides an explanation for the killing

• causation-defence will fail if d would have killed anyway even without the abnormality
• intoxication-(Gittens)-disregard the effect of intoxication
• alcohol dependency syndrome-(Wood)