Diminished responsibility Flashcards
Diminished responsibility can be proven by :
- abnormality of mental functioning
- medical condition
- substantially impairs D’s mental ability to understand his nature of conduct
- D’s abnormality must provide an explanation
Abnormality of mental functioning case
Byrne
Byrne LP
D was in a state of mind that was so different from that of an ordinary human being that a reasonable man would term it abnormal.
how to write - Abnormality of mental functioning
Mention :
-was defined by Byrne and mention LP
-In this question D had an abnormality of mental functioning because…
Medical condition cases
Seers & Aluwalia
Seers medical condition
chronic depression
Aluwalia medical condition
battered wife syndrome
How to write - medical condition
Mention
-cases (seers & aluwalia, along with medical conditions included
-In this question D has a recognised medical condition of…
How to write : Ability to understand nature of conduct
-D’s ability to understand the nature of their conduct, form rational judgments or exercise seld- control must be substantially impaired.
- in this question, D is substantially impaired when they kill because…
D’s mental ability is substantially impaired if he cannot :
- understand the nature of his conduct
- form a rational judgement
- exercise self-control
- only one NEEDS to be relevant
how to write : D’s abnormality must provide explanation
-D’s abnormality must provide an explanation for the killing.
-But for D’s abnormality, they would not have killed and the abnormality must be a significant factor in the killing.
- in this Q, D’s abnormality could/isn’t a cause of the killing
- But for …
Intoxication, how to write :
If D is intoxicated and suffering from a recognised medical condition, we should ignore the intoxication and ask if D was substantially impaired by his recognised medical condition (dietschmann)
