Diminished responsibility Flashcards
What is diminished responsibility and where is it found?
A partial and specific defence to murder, found in S2 Homicide Act 1957 (as amended by C and JA 2009)
What is the standard and burden of proof for diminished responsibility?
D has to prove the defence on a balance of probabilitiies
What is the definition of diminished responsibility? (4 elements - ARSE)
D must be suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning arising from a registered medical condition and which substantially impairs his ability to do one of 3 things and provides an explanation for D’s acts or omissions in the killing
What is the case and definition for an abnormality of mental functioning?
Byrne - A state of mind so different from that of an ordinary human being that a reasonable man would term it abnormal
What must the AMF come from?
A recognised medical condition
Give some examples of registered medical conditions with cases
Martin - paranoid personality disorder
Ahluwalia - battered woman’s syndrome
Seers - depression
R v Brown (Robert) - extreme stress)
Give examples of when the registered medical condition can be physical
Diabetes, epilepsy, sleepwalking
Which case shows that the immediate effects of alcohol or drugs is not a registered medical condition?
Di Duca
What does the case of Wood state?
Alcohol dependency syndrome is a recognised medical condition (symptoms include desire to drink, drinking to avoid withdrawal symptoms and increase in alcohol tolerance
What is the legal principle in the case of Tandy?
If the brain is damaged from alcohol abuse, this can be a recognised medical condition
Which 3 things can the abnormality substantially impair?
- Ability to understand the nature of his conduct
- Ability to exercise self-control
- Ability to form a rational judgement
What does the case of Golds show about the definition of the word ‘substantial’?
The judge doesn’t have to explain then meaning as it was obvious however if they did decide to provide an explanation to the jury it should be whether the AMF made a real difference to D’s conduct
Which 2 elements are considered when deciding whether the abnormality provides an explanation for D’s conduct in the killing? What is the section number for this?
S2(1B) When the abnormality either causes D to kill or was a significant contributory factor in D killing
What case shows that the abnormality need not be the sole cause of the killing, but must be a significant contributory factor?
R v Dietschmann
