Insanity Template Flashcards
D may be able to….
Plead the defence of insanity which is a defence to all offences.
Under the M’naghten rules…..
D must prove that at the time of committing the act, he was suffering from a defect of reason, exulting from a disease of the mind and he didn’t know the nature or quality of the act he was doing was wrong.
The law assumes all defendants are sane until they can prove otherwise on the balance of probabailities.
The first test is….
Whether D had a defect or reason i.e. was he actions illogically or irrationally. R v Clarke established that this means D is deprived of the power of reasoning. It didn’t apply in this case to a woman who claimed absent mindedness as a result of depression.
APPLICATION
The second test is…
Whether D suffered a disease of mind which means an internal condition. This is a legal test defined by judicial precedent. In M’naughten paranoia was defined as a disease of the mind.
In R v Quick diabetes didnt amount to a disease of the mind because D’s mental condition wasn’t caused by diabeties but by the use of insulin provided by his doctor which is an external factor.
However in R v Hennessy diabeties was found to amount to a disease of the mind.
APPLICATION: what was the disease?
The third test is….
That D didnt know the nature and quality of the act he was doing or not knowing what he was doing was legally wrong. In R v Codere D did know the nature of his act. Lord Denning gave an example of when D would not know the nature of the act he is doing: D threw a baby in a fire thinking it was a log .
APPLICATION: which one applies and why?
APPLICATION: will D be able to plead insanity?
If yes judge has different options open to her under the Criminal Procedure Act 1991 including a guardianship or hospital order.
