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Diminished Responsibility (Arising from a Recognised Medical Condition…
Diminished Responsibility
Special and Partial Defence
Only applies to murder and you are convicted of a different crime (voluntary manslaughter)
Reduces murder to manslaughter
Section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957
Reformed under Section 52 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009
Amended following the 2006 Law Commission report
Abnormality of Mental Functioning (AMF) (1st Element
Question for the jury
'State of mind that is so different from normal that an ordinary person would regard it as abnormal'
Byrne
Sexual psychopath who killed and chopped up his victim
Claimed he was suffering from violent perverted sexual desires which were uncontrollable
Arising from a Recognised Medical Condition (RMC) (2nd Element)
The mental/physical condition must be medically recognised and their must be evidence to support this
Alcohol dependency; depression; bipolar; epilepsy; PTSD; schizophrenia; Othello's syndrome; autism; OCD; combat stress
Blackman
Soldier killed Taliban fighter; conviction reduced to manslaughter as he was suffering from combat stress
Auluwalia
Suffered abuse from husband; set him on fire using petrol; conviction reduced to manslaughter as she was suffering from BWS
Medical conditions can change over time e.g. BWS
Abnormality must substantially impair the defendants ability to ... (2nd Element)
Golds (2016)
'An impairment must be more than merely trivial to be substantial and does not have to be total'
Understand the nature of his acts
Form a rational judgement
Exersise self Control
This must provide an explanation for his actions in killing the victim; and be the cause or significant contributory cause
There can be other causes (argument or consumption of drink or drugs) as long as the abnormality of mental functioning significantly contributed to the kill
If the defendant would have killed regardless of the medical condition, the defence will not be available
The AMF should be at least a cause or contributory cause of the accused's conduct in killing the victim (provides an explanation for D's acts or omissions in causing the death of the victim
Alcohol Dependency Syndrome
Where an alcoholic suffers from ADS this can amount to a RMC for DR
Because the D can exert some control over his drinking does not mean he does not have ADS (Wood)
Combination of Intoxication and Mental Disorder
Where the defendant is under the influence of alcohol or drugs and also has a RMC
Jury must ignore the impact of the intoxication and decide whether the RMC caused the death by impacting his ability to control one or more of the three factors (Dietschmann)