Some Psychological and Law Features of the Insanity Defence in War Crimes Trials in Europe (original) (raw)
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The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 2018
Under Belgian law, offenders deemed to lack criminal responsibility because of insanity receive mandated treatment under the internment law. Population profiles of these forensic patients ('internees') are, however, very scarce. In this study, we analysed the demographic, clinical and judicial profile of a large sample of Belgian internees admitted to a secure setting. In addition, differences between internees admitted to a medium versus a high security setting were investigated. Belgian internees were characterised by a large number of personality disorders and a low number of first offenders. Comparative analyses showed substantial differences between the high and medium security settings, with a marked proportion of the forensic patients in high security having committed a sexual offence. Contrary to expectations, more predictors for length of stay were found in the medium security subsample, while admission periods were significantly longer in the high security subsample.
Insanity barrier is principally for the most part utilizes in the criminal indictment. The supposition when the crime was perpetrated, the respondent was experiencing extreme mental or ailment so thusly he isn't competent for valuing the nature of crime what he had done on that time. Anyway in law duty implies risk to discipline, basic to our perspective on man as a free; an individual can be held obligated for any act he submits just on the off chance that he does it with wish and through and through freedom. The adages 'actus non feature ream nisi men's sit rea' the physical act doesn't make an individual guilty, the psychological part as malicious goal is similarly significant this supplication of unsoundness of brain or insanity spare the individual from the death penalty. In the previous 145 years there is no adjustment in the comprehension and information and ability to pick the good and bad for criminal obligation, human conduct is the aftereffect of an interaction among organic and ecological factor other than free decision neglected to intrigue the criminal equity framework in light of the fact that immediate danger to a general public profound situated need to accuse somebody than themselves for criminal harm that happen. The insanity or unsoundness of psyche is the shield to respondent the criminal that were carried out and off track the legal executive just as individuals on the loose.
Translational Psychiatry
Insanity definition and the threshold for satisfying its legal criteria tend to vary depending on the jurisdictions. Yet, in Western countries, the legal standards for insanity often rely on the presence of cognitive and/or volitional impairment of the defendant at crime time. Despite some efforts having been made to guide and structure criminal responsibility evaluations, a valid instrument that could be useful to guide forensic psychiatrists’ criminal responsibility assessments in different jurisdictions is lacking. This is a gap that needs to be addressed, considering the significant forensic and procedural implications of psychiatric evaluations. In addition, differences in methodology used in insanity assessments may also have consequences for the principle of equal rights for all citizens before the law, which should be guaranteed in the European Union. We developed an instrument, the Defendant’s Insanity Assessment Support Scale (DIASS), which can be useful to support, struct...
Homicide and the insanity defense: A comparison of sane and insane murderers
Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 1987
A sample of 50 homicide defendants acquitted by reason of ins-(NGRI) was compared with a group of 50 defendants who were evaluuted for insanity and found to be crimirdy responsible (CR). Signijicant diflerences were found between the two groups in t e r n of prior psychiatric and criminal histories and nature of the homicide (i.e., relationship to victim). The dispositions of those found NGRl were also examined on the above variubies.
Historical profiles of criminal insanity
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2002
relatively little is known about the lives of the criminally insane themselves. Apart from their official depictions in court documents and published legal judgments, forensic populations of the past remain a near-invisible constituency in the historiography of psychiatric and judicial systems. As Eigen (1995, p. 163) writes, ''[o]ne looks in vain for a sustained treatment of the patient's thought-world.'' For the most part, in the historical pursuit of the medicolegal subject, we are restricted to a scattering of early surveys of hospital inpatients (
Criminal insanity in Bulgaria and Norway: Analysing the prospect of a common approach
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2023
This article raises the question of the prospect of a common approach to mentally ill offenders in Europe, through a comparative discussion of the criminal insanity rules and systems in Norway and Bulgaria. The underlying motivation is to fill a gap in current legal research where the insanity discourse is still to a certain extent nationally oriented. Bulgaria is to date not represented at all in the international discussion of criminal insanity. Starting out from recognizing the different history, rules, culture and welfare of Norway and Bulgaria, the authors argue that these countries have a similar practical understanding of insanity and how it is associated with mental disorders as well as common challenges in their forensic and legal systems. These insights can provide a basis for further comparative explorations concerning a possible harmonization of insanity law in Europe.