Diminished Responsibility Flashcards Preview

Law A2 Unit 3 > Diminished Responsibility > Flashcards

Flashcards in Diminished Responsibility Deck (9)
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1
Q

Definition

A

Amended in s52 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009

A person is not guilty of murder if he was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning that means he could not be held responsible for the actus reus

2
Q

Elements

A
  1. Must have arisen from a recognised medical condition

2 must have substantially impaired D’s ability to

  • understand the nature of their conduct
  • form a rational judgement OR
  • exercise self control.
  1. Must provide an explanation for D’s involvement in the killing
3
Q

Abnormality of mental functioning?

A

R v Byrne, Lord Parker CJ defines abnormality of mind as “a state of mind that a reasonable man would find abnormal”

The law commission have stated that mental states such as anger, jealousy, temper, love and compassion are emotions which ordinary people are susceptible

4
Q

Abnormality of the mind- cases under the old law

A

R v Tandy - d strangled her daughter, tried to plead alcoholism as a cause of DR.
Was held that DR is available where alcoholism has caused brain damage and the brain damage has substantially impaired D’s mental responsibility for the killing

R v Dietschmann - D May be able to rely on DR despite being intoxicated as long as the abnormality was still a substantial cause of the killing

5
Q
  1. Abnormality must arise from a recognised medical condition
A

Defence will only be available if D was suffering from a condition recognised by medical professionals

This would include depression - r v seers
Paranoid personality disorders - r v Martin

D must have evidence to confirm this

6
Q
  1. Substantial impairment of D’s ability
A

Abnormality of mental functioning must have substantially impaired D’s ability to:

  • understand the nature of their conduct
  • form a rational judgement
  • exercise self control
7
Q
  1. A significant contributory factor to the killing
A

Should cause or be a significant contributory factor in causing D to kill. If they killed them because they hated them and their mental health had no impact on this, the defence will not apply.

8
Q

Burden of proof

A

It is up to D to prove DR on the balance of probabilities.

9
Q

Effect

A

If successful, D is convicted of manslaughter instead of murder