the role of mental illness in court and juries Flashcards
what are the four categories of mental disorders that are most likely to be associated with criminal conduct?
- schizophrenic disorders
- paranoid or delusional disorders
- mood disorders (major depression)
- antisocial personality disorder
what are the two elements that must be present for criminal guilt to be established? explain
- actus reus: a wrongful deed, objective component, based on evidence
- mens rea: criminal intent, subjective component
what are the two burdens of proof?
- beyond a reasonable doubt
- preponderance of the evidence
explain ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’
- standard of proof required for all criminal proceedings
- proof that is just short of absolute certainty
- fully satisfied, entirely convinced
explain ‘preponderance of the evidence’
- standard of proof for civil suits, fitness to stand trial, and insanity defense
- proof that one side has more evidence in its favour than the other
- who has the most convincing story
what are the three conditions to check for an accused to be unfit to stand trial?
- unable to understand the nature or object of the proceedings
- unable to understand the prossible consequences of the proceedings
- unable to communicate with counsel
what happens after a person is declared unfit to stand trial
- proceedings are halted until competency is restored
- detained in a hospital or conditionally discharged
- reassessment within 45 days, then on a yearly basis, if still unfit, crown must make a prima facie case every two years (must prove that there is still sufficient evidence to bring accused to trial)
according to r v demers (2004) and bill c-10, when does the court have the authority to order an absolute discharge?
- if the accusd is unlikely to ever becoe fit to stand trial
- does not pose a threat to society
- a stay of proceedings (not proceed w trial) is in the interests of the proper administration of justice
who can asses unfit to stand trial
- medical practitioners or other professionals designated by the attorney general (mostly psychiatrists)
what is the most common instrument for assessing fit to stand trial?
fitness interview test revised (fit-r)
what are some common caracs of ppl deemed unfit to stand trial?
- have psychotic disorder
- unemployed
- previous hospitalization
what conditions must a person meet to be NCRMD?
- must suffer from a mental disorder
- must fail to appreciate the nature or quality of their act (or omission)
- may understand what they are doing , but not believe it to be wrong
the crown may raise the issue of NCRMD under what two situations?
- following a guilty verdict
- if stated by the defence that the defendant has a mental illness
who has to come to an agreement for the NCRMD to stand?
defence and prosecution/crown
what are the possible dispositions following a finding of NCRMD?
- absolute discharge (released without any restrictions)
- conditional discharge
- sent to psychiatric facility
what is the most common instrument for assessing insanity (NCRMD)?
the rogers criminal responsibility assessment scale
what are the five scales of the rogers criminal responsibility assessment scale?
- patient reliability (detect malingering)
- organicity (assess possible organic conditions like mental retardation)
- psychopathology (symptoms of functional disturbance like anxiety)
- cognitive control (hallucinations, delusions, understand criminality of behaviour)
- behavioral control (whether person lacked behavioural control, monitor behavior)
what are some other conditions that can be used as a defence?
- automatism (unconscious, involuntary behavior such that the person committing the act is not aware of what they are doing)
- intoxication (voluntary intoxication is not recognized as a defence for violent crimes, often used to mitigate criminal responsibility)
- sexsomnia (a form of parasomnia defined by engaging in sexual acts while asleep, used twice in Canada for NCRMS successfully)
- PTSD (cannot be used as a defence, but used to mitigate criminal responsibility
- Dissociative identity disorder (generally does not work for defence, easier to fake)
- amnesia (worries of malingering, but can be used as defence if clean connection can be made btwn brain injury and memory loss)
explain the distinction btwn non insane and insane automatism
- non insane -> must prove automatism
- insane -> must use the NCRMD defense
what are some common misconceptions abt the NCRMD defence?
- it is commonly used – in Canada, 2 cases per 1000 adult criminal cases
- it is usually successful
- most acquittees commit murder
- it is a loophole
- defendants are not confined very long
- defendants are dangerous
name the three types of offenses in canada
- summary offense
- indictable offense
- hybrid offense
what is a summary offense?who is it tried by?
- minor criminal offense, w less than 6 months in jail (ex. shoplifting)
- case tried by judge alone
what are the three types of indictable offenses?
- less serious indictable offense (theft, fraud…) -> tried by judge alone
- highly serious indictable offense (murder, treason…) -> must b tried by judge and jury
- other indictable offense (anything else, like robbery, arson) -> accused can decide to be tried by judge alone or judge and jury
what is a hybrid offense?
- a cross btwn indictable and summary offense (ex. sexual assault)
- the crown attorney decides whether to proceed w the case as a summary offense or indictable offense
- most time tried by judge alone
what is a jury act?
- provincial and territorial legislation that outlines the eligibility criteria for jury service and how prospective jurors must be selected
- criteria vary slightly across jurisdictions (e.g. minimal age)
what is a jury summons?
- a court order that states a time and place to go for jury duty – does not guarantee you will be selected as a juror
what are the consequences for ignoring a jury summons?
fine or jail time
what is a peremptory challenge?
being able to reject a jury selection w/o having to provide a reason
what is challenge for cause?
having to give a reason for why wanting to reject a jury selection, judge gives final decision
are lawyers able to select favourable jurors?
- no. in canada, based on the info the lawyers have on the jurors (name, address, occupation and physical demeanour), it not enough to make a valid decision
what is scientific jury selection?
- rejecting prospective jurors who would be unsympathetic to one’s case and accepting those who would be sympathetic based on predetermined characteristics
what are the two approaches to scientific jury selection? explain
- broad-based approach : traits or attitudes (lawyers ask general questions to prospective jurors)
- case-specific approach: issues of the case (asks specific questions that relates to facts of the case)
what are the two fundamental caracs to juries? explain
- representativeness: a jury composition that represents the community where the crime occurred
- impartiality: characteristic of jurors who are unbiased,
must set aside any pre-existing biases, must ignore any information that is not part of the admissible evidence, must not have any connection to the defendant
what are the two threats to impartiality?
- negative pretrial publicity related to an increase number of guilty verdicts
- positive pre-trial publicity can bias jurors in favour of a defendant
what are ways to keep potential jurors impartial?
- change of venue: moving a trial to a community other than the one in which the crime occurred
- adjournment: delaying the trial
- challenge for cause: an option to reject biased jurors
what is the main function of a jury?
- to apply the law as provided by the judge and render a verdict of guilt or innocence
what are some other functions of a jury?
- use the wisdom of 12 to reach a verdict
- act as the conscience of the community
- protect against out-of-date laws
- increase knowledge about the justice system
can a jury ignore the law?
- technically no, but it happens
- jury nullification: occurs when a jury ignores the law and evidence, rendering a verdict based on some other criteria
what are the four different techiques of jury behaviour research? explain
- post-trial interviews: asking the jurors why they reached the verdict they did (note: not allowed in Canada)
- archives: reviewing records of trials and police interviews of witnesses
- simulations: simulating a trial to study the effect of independent variables
- field studies: using actual jurors while they are serving on jury duty (note: not allowed in Canada)
what are some factors that may influence the ability of jurors to dismiss inadmissiable evidence?
- strenght of the evidence: when evidence is weak, they consider the inadmissibility of evidence n more likey to use in their verdict; if strong evidence (like weapon), then its very easy to eliminate it (not include it)
- reason provided by the judge to disregard the evidence: instruction to disregard bc evidence obtained illegal (less likely to disregard) vs bc evidence poor quality and difficult to comprehend (more likely to disregard)
what are the six variables identified as having a relation to the verdict? explain
- demographic variables: gender, race, socioeconomic status and education of jurors;
black sheep effect – when evidence is strong, similarity between defendant and jury leads to punitiveness - personality traits: authoritarianism and dogmatism, conservative = pro-prosecution bias
- attitudes: positive attitudes towards capital punishement = pro-prosecution, guilty verdict
- defendant caracs: attractiveness of the defendant (if crime unrelated to attractivenes = more lenient, if crime related to attractiveness = more severr verdict) (w/o deliberation = plain looking = more guilty vs
with deliberation = attractive person = more guilty) - victim carac: sexual assult cases (victim sexual history tends to bias verdict, victim blame esp when victim is sexually active)
- expert testimony: race n gender of experts (if talking abt female topics as a female, more credibility to the jury); complexity of testimony and credential of expert (convinced with higher creditial of expert when talking abt complex topics; but also the strength and coherence of evidence is important); battered woman syndrom (for sexual assult cases)
