diminished responsibility

Question 1

partial defence to a charge of murder…

Answer 1

which reduces the offence to one of voluntary manslaughter

Question 2

s.52 Coroners and Justice Act
a person who kills or is party to a killing of another isn’t to be convicted of murder if he was suffering from an;

Answer 2

> Abnormality of mental functioning
which arose from a recognised medical condition
which is substantially impairs Ds ability to do one of the following
-understand nature of his conduct
-form rational judgement
-exercise self control
the abnormality provides an explanation for D causing Vs death

Question 3

abnormality of mental functioning caused by a recognised medical condition

Answer 3

> R v Byrnes - sexual psychopath who couldn’t control perverted desires

> R v Conroy - autism spectrum disorder

> R v Squelch - paranoid personality disorder

> R v Tandy - alcohol dependency syndrome

Question 4

abnormality of mental functioning must ‘substantially impair’ Ds ability to;

Answer 4

> understand the nature of his conduct (includes severe learning difficulties and delusions)

> form rational judgement

> exercise self control

Question 5

R v Golds

Answer 5

a judge will not define the term ‘‘substantially impair’’ unless there is risk the jury will not understand it, if so they will say its ‘‘more than trivial impairment’’.
this also must be the cause of killing or being party to

Question 6

intoxication

Answer 6

can play a part in DR, even though intoxication cannot solely satisfy the defence
R v Dowds - voluntary acute intoxication will not be capable of DR

Question 7

R v Dietschmann

Answer 7

where there is intoxication + abnormality of mental functioning present at the time of killing it can form a defence
> where a recognised mental condition causes intoxication the defence can be used

Question 8

R v Kay

Answer 8

judge stated that if you have a recognised medical condition which is known to be impacted by alcohol and drugs, and then chooses to ‘‘abuse alcohol + drugs to excess and then kills’’ the defence cannot be used

Question 9

R v Tandy

Answer 9

ADS is a recognised medical disorder, where D couldn’t control desire to drink so it was involuntary intoxication.

Question 10

R v Stewart

Answer 10

court will consider severity of ADS
3Q’s:
1. was the D suffering from ‘abnormality of mental functioning’?
2. was Ds abnormality caused by ADS?
3. was the Ds mental responsibility substantially impaired?