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ABSTRACT The legal provisions relating to those persons who are found unfit to be tried or who successfully plead the defence of insanity have recently undergone radical change in both Canada and England. This article seeks to compare and... more
ABSTRACT The legal provisions relating to those persons who are found unfit to be tried or who successfully plead the defence of insanity have recently undergone radical change in both Canada and England. This article seeks to compare and critically evaluate the operation of these analogous but very different reforms which have resulted from major dissatisfaction about the way in which the law of both countries has treated this group of vulnerable offender patients.
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This brief commentary compares the law relating unfitness to plead in England and Wales with that of competency to stand trial, as reflected in the AAPL Practice Guideline. In so doing, it presents the argument that English law, with its... more
This brief commentary compares the law relating unfitness to plead in England and Wales with that of competency to stand trial, as reflected in the AAPL Practice Guideline. In so doing, it presents the argument that English law, with its adherence to a test of unfitness that goes back to the first half of the 19th century, may no longer be fit for the purpose. Unlike the test for incompetency to stand trial adopted by most of the United States, English law fails to incorporate decisional competence and consequently may be failing to protect vulnerable defendants. The commentary concludes that, despite the differences in law and practice between our respective countries, the AAPL Guideline contains much of value for psychiatrists and lawyers who have to deal with unfitness to plead, an area of the law that surely ought to be the subject of consideration for reform.
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VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article by Mackay was to discover more information and insights about the Infanticide Act of 1938, which stated that in cases where the mother by any willful act or omission causes the death... more
VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article by Mackay was to discover more information and insights about the Infanticide Act of 1938, which stated that in cases where the mother by any willful act or omission causes the death of her child under the age of 12 months permitted a charge of and conviction of infanticide instead of murder. METHODOLOGY: This study was quasi-experimental. Permission was obtained from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to examine the files of 36 females who had killed one of their children under the age of 12 months during the years 1982 to 1985. In addition, the files in a further 11 cases were made available. These cases consisted of three females who had killed one of their children over the age of 12 months, one female who had killed another person's child and seven males who had each killed very young children, two of whom were other people's children. It was hoped that an examination of these additional files might produce more in...
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... Consider the example used by the late Professor Sir John Smith. ... 6. Para. 26. 7. Above nl [2001] 1 AC 146, 205. 8. See originally, R. v Morhall [1996] 1 AC 90, [1995] 3 WLR 330, [1995] 3 All ER 659; Commentary [1995] Crim LR 890,... more
... Consider the example used by the late Professor Sir John Smith. ... 6. Para. 26. 7. Above nl [2001] 1 AC 146, 205. 8. See originally, R. v Morhall [1996] 1 AC 90, [1995] 3 WLR 330, [1995] 3 All ER 659; Commentary [1995] Crim LR 890, 891, 892. ...
Research Interests: Psychology and Law
This article contains a study of the first four years of the operation of the “guilty but mentally ill” (GBMI) verdict in Pennsylvania. The authors found that the number of successful insanity defenses had been significantly reduced... more
This article contains a study of the first four years of the operation of the “guilty but mentally ill” (GBMI) verdict in Pennsylvania. The authors found that the number of successful insanity defenses had been significantly reduced during this period. In addition, the majority of GBMI convictees received hospital treatment. Although the results of this study tend to confirm that GBMI is operating differently in states such as Michigan and Illinois, the Pennsylvania provision cannot be said to be working in a uniform manner, as there are major regional variations in its operation. The authors conclude that there appears to be little or no advantage to a defendant in using or pleading GBMI, but that more research is required to monitor the verdict's continued utilization.
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Abstract Very little is known about patients who have been the subject of long-term detention as a result of a finding ofunfitness to plead or legal insanity. In order to discover more about such patients permission was sought to examine... more
Abstract Very little is known about patients who have been the subject of long-term detention as a result of a finding ofunfitness to plead or legal insanity. In order to discover more about such patients permission was sought to examine Home Office files on all those who had been detained for 15 years of more up to December 1988. Permission was also obtained to interview a number of these patients who were held in three of the high security Special Hospitals. Two issues highlighted by the research were the use of 'common sense'criteria ...
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ABSTRACT The state of the law concerning diminished responsibility continues to pose problems for both the legal and medical professions. Three case studies are used to illustrate the current law, followed by some observations relating to... more
ABSTRACT The state of the law concerning diminished responsibility continues to pose problems for both the legal and medical professions. Three case studies are used to illustrate the current law, followed by some observations relating to possible reform.
Research Interests: Law, Criminal Law, Jurisprudence, Political Science, Medicine, and 6 moreEngland, Humans, Female, Male, Clinical Sciences, and Adult
ABSTRACT The involvement of schizophrenics in anti-social (criminal) behaviour is examined by means of a questionnaire survey. The results reveal that such behaviour is, for the most part, trivial and that in a high proportion of such... more
ABSTRACT The involvement of schizophrenics in anti-social (criminal) behaviour is examined by means of a questionnaire survey. The results reveal that such behaviour is, for the most part, trivial and that in a high proportion of such cases the sufferers are not prosecuted but are removed to a hospital by the police or a social worker.
Research Interests: Law, Adolescent, England, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Humans, and 7 moreCrime, Female, Male, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, and Adult
The automatism defence has been described as a quagmire of law and as presenting an intractable problem. Why is this so? This paper will analyse and explore the current legal position on automatism. In so doing, it will identify the... more
The automatism defence has been described as a quagmire of law and as presenting an intractable problem. Why is this so? This paper will analyse and explore the current legal position on automatism. In so doing, it will identify the problems which the case law has created, including the distinction between sane and insane automatism and the status of the ‘external factor doctrine’, and comment briefly on recent reform proposals.
Research Interests: Law and Clinical Sciences
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The insanity defense is a legal construct that excuses certain mentally ill defendants from legal responsibility for criminal behavior. This practice guideline has delineated the forensic psychiatric evaluation of defendants raising the... more
The insanity defense is a legal construct that excuses certain mentally ill defendants from legal responsibility for criminal behavior. This practice guideline has delineated the forensic psychiatric evaluation of defendants raising the insanity defense. The document describes acceptable forensic psychiatric practices. Where possible, standards of practice and ethical guidelines have been specified. And where appropriate, the practice guideline has emphasized the importance of analyzing the individual case, the jurisdictional case law and the state (or federal) statute. This practice guideline is limited by the evolving case law, statutory language and legal literature. The authors have emphasized the statutory language of current legal standards, as well as the state or federal courts' interpretation of those standards because the same statutory language has been interpreted differently in different jurisdictions. Similarly, this practice guideline has reviewed the state and fe...
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ABSTRACT Remand prisoners requiring urgent in-patient psychiatric treatment can be transferred from prison to hospital under section 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983. During the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in the use of... more
ABSTRACT Remand prisoners requiring urgent in-patient psychiatric treatment can be transferred from prison to hospital under section 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983. During the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in the use of section 48. However, apart from this increase in numbers and the presumed clinical benefits it brings to transferees, to date very little has been known about the overall effect of the usage of section 48. The study presented here attempts to provide an overall picture of the patients transferred in 1992, the section 48 process and the effect this had on the ultimate disposal of transferees.
Research Interests: Criminology and Law
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Psychiatrists are often asked to answer legal questions. The extent to which they answer strictly legal rather than medical matters is not known. To investigate how strongly psychiatrists in England and Wales express opinions on one legal... more
Psychiatrists are often asked to answer legal questions. The extent to which they answer strictly legal rather than medical matters is not known. To investigate how strongly psychiatrists in England and Wales express opinions on one legal question - that of diminished responsibility in respect of a murder charge, and how this is related to outcome in court. METHOD Our data were extracted from psychiatric reports and case files supplied by the then Department of Constitutional Affairs (now the Ministry of Justice) on cases heard in the Crown Courts between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2001 in which the defence of diminished responsibility had been raised. The cases had been selected by the Law Commission in their earlier review of partial defences to murder. We devised a reliable system of rating the presence/absence and strength of expression of a legal opinion in the medical reports. We tested the data for relationship between nature and strength of opinion and progression to trial and verdict. RESULTS Psychiatric reports were available on 143 of 156 cases in which diminished responsibility was considered. They yielded 338 opinions on at least one aspect of diminished responsibility. In 110 (93%) of the 118 cases in which there was a diminished verdict, this was made without trial and, therefore, without reference to a jury. In only eight (27%) out of the 30 cases that went to trial, was a diminished responsibility verdict made. Half of the reports (169) gave a clear opinion on diminished responsibility, a third (121) invited the court to draw a particular conclusion and only 11% (36) provided relevant evidence without answering the legal questions. When there was an opinion or an invitation to make a finding on the legal question, a trial was less likely. A trial was also less likely if reports agreed on what the verdict should be. CONCLUSIONS Psychiatrists frequently answer the legal question of diminished responsibility. The judiciary and medical experts should join in research to examine the consequences of different styles or approaches in presentation of essentially similar evidence in court.
Research Interests: Criminology, Psychology, Psychiatry, Expert testimony, Medicine, and 3 moreEngland, Humans, and Wales
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Research Interests: Psychology and Nonsense
An unmarried 21-year old student who received an unshielded x-ray during treatment for an illness was later found to be 18 weeks pregnant and was advised by 2 doctors to have an abortion. The child's father sought to gain an... more
An unmarried 21-year old student who received an unshielded x-ray during treatment for an illness was later found to be 18 weeks pregnant and was advised by 2 doctors to have an abortion. The child's father sought to gain an injunction, preventing the girl from getting the abortion and the area health authority from providing it, on grounds that the abortion of an 18-week fetus constituted the crime of child destruction under the terms of the 1929 Infant Life Preservation Act, which defines the crime as any willful act causing the death of a child capable of being born alive. The judge denied the plaintiff's request on the grounds that the abortion of a child born alive but unable to breathe either on its own or on a ventilator did not constitute child destruction. The tacit agreement that viability implies the ability to breathe leaves the legality of abortions performed at 22-25 weeks gestation unsettled, since it is not possible to ascertain pulmonary function in utero.
Research Interests: Law, Medicine, England, Infanticide, Humans, and 4 morePregnant Women, Medicine Law, Fetal Viability, and Spouses
The insanity defense is a legal construct that excuses certain mentally ill defendants from legal responsibility for criminal behavior. This practice guideline has delineated the forensic psychiatric evaluation of defendants raising the... more
The insanity defense is a legal construct that excuses certain mentally ill defendants from legal responsibility for criminal behavior. This practice guideline has delineated the forensic psychiatric evaluation of defendants raising the insanity defense. The document describes acceptable forensic psychiatric practices. Where possible, standards of practice and ethical guidelines have been specified. And where appropriate, the practice guideline has emphasized the importance of analyzing the individual case, the jurisdictional case law and the state (or federal) statute. This practice guideline is limited by the evolving case law, statutory language and legal literature. The authors have emphasized the statutory language of current legal standards, as well as the state or federal courts' interpretation of those standards because the same statutory language has been interpreted differently in different jurisdictions. Similarly, this practice guideline has reviewed the state and fe...