Diminished Responsibility Structure

Question 1

Identify and define

Answer 1

Diminished responsibility is a partial defence to murder and will reduce liability.
A person who kills or is party to the killing of another is not to be convicted if D was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning which -
i) from a RMC
ii)substantially impaired D’s ability to understand nature of his conduct, form rational judgement, exercise self-control
iii)provides an explanation for D’s acts or omissions in doing or being party to the killing

Question 2

Abnormality of mental functioning

Answer 2

S52 of the Coroners and justice act says this is an ‘abnormality of mind’ as used in Byrne.
D’s mental functioning must be so different to that or an ordinary human beings that a reasonable person would term it abnormal.

Alcohol dependency syndrome/involuntary drinking can be considered an abnormality. Intoxication is not (Dowds). If D has pre-existing abnormality and is drunk, abnormality will be considered (Gittens)

Question 3

RMC

Answer 3

Must be from a recognised medical condition. Psychological and physical conditions are included. This related to WHO and Statistal Manual of Mental Disorders classifications.

Spectrum from ; Mental deficiency (Speake), PMT (Smith) Depression (Gittens), BWS (Ahluwalia) ADS (Stewart)

Medical evidence must be provided.

Question 4

Substantially impair D’s ability

Answer 4

I) to understand the nature of his conduct
ii) to form a rational judgement
iii) exercise self- control (Byrne)

Byrne - degree of impairment is jury decision
Lloyd - substantial does not mean total nor trivial or minimal
Egan - More than some trivial, less than total impairment’

Question 5

Must be proven that the abnormality of mental functioning explains the act

Answer 5

The newly amended law states there must be a connection between the abnormality and the conduct. The abnormality does not need to be the only factor in causing the conduct but must be a significant contribution (S2 (1B) Homicide Act 57)