Depressed but not legally mentally impaired

Wondemaghen, Meron

Abstract

This article examines the mental impairment (insanity) defense in the Australian state of Victoria and argues that the defense is successful only when offenders suffer from psychotic mental illnesses. This raises the question about how non-psychotic offenders are dealt with by the courts when they claim 'mental impairment' for serious acts of violence such as homicide, particularly when a relatively large number of perpetrators involved in homicide suffer from non-psychotic illnesses like depression. The analysis shows that depressive illnesses do not reach the threshold for mental impairment (legal insanity) such that they mitigate violent criminal behavior, although they can, arguably, diminish culpability. This article draws upon existing literature, qualitative analysis of two court cases and semi-structured interviews with four legal representatives to make its conclusions. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Citation

Wondemaghen, M. (2014). Depressed but not legally mentally impaired. International journal of law and psychiatry, 37(2), 160-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2013.11.010

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 20, 2013
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Aug 19, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 27, 2022
• Journal: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
• Print ISSN: 0160-2527
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-6386
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 160-167
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2013.11.010
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4056781