Murder: The Abnormal Mind-Mad or Just Bad

Abstract

This discussion explores some difficult issues concerning the interaction of law and psychiatry in the context of the defence of diminished responsibility in murder trials. It suggests that the uncertainty of the science, and of the criminal law, combine with certain rules of criminal procedure and punishment to create a situation where mentally abnormal accused persons who kill are put through an unnecessary life and death gamble in the criminal process. It ends with a plea to both the legal and psychiatric professions to pause and think of more creative and acceptable ways to deal with a defence of mental abnormality to a charge of murder.