diminished responsibility- murder

Question 1

background information

Answer 1

s52 coroners and justice act 2009
partial defence only used for murder which reduces the conviction to voluntary manslaughter
maximum life sentence instead of mandatory
must prove it on the balance of probabilities
a person who kills or is a party to the killing of another is not to be convicted of murder if d was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning
arose from recognised medical condition
understand the nature of his conduct
form rational judgement
exercise self control
provides explanation for acts of omissions in doing or being party to killing

Question 2

abnormality of mental functioning

Answer 2

abnormality of mind means state of mind si different from that of ordinary human beings that the reasonable man would term it abnormal

Question 3

recognised medical condition

Answer 3

abnormality of mental functioning must arise from a recognised medical condition
covers any medical condition including depressive illness paranoia and battered womens syndrome
cover physical conditions affects mental functioning such as epilepsy sleep disorders or diabetes
must be medical evidence given at trial

Question 4

substantial impairment

Answer 4

abnormality on mental functioning must have substantially impaired d’s ability to do one or more of three things- understand nature of conduct, form rational judgement or exercise self control
one of degree and left to jury, does not mean total nor does it mean trivial or minimal
ability to understand the nature of his conduct- covers situations where d is in automatic state and does not know what he is doing, covers where the d suffers from delusions, covers people with severe learning difficulties and whose mental age is so low that they do not understand the nature of what they are doing
ability to form rational judgement- even if d does not know nature of conduct he may not be able to form rational judgemetn about acts or omissions, suffering from schizophrenia
ability to exercise self control- bryne- sexual psychopath, medical evidence condition meant he was unable to control his perverted desires, dr available

Question 5

provides an explanation

Answer 5

must be some causal connection between d abnormality of mental functioning and the killing
abnormality of mental functioning need not be the only factor which caused the defendant to be involved in the killing but must be significant factor