This is a past event
'Reforming Mental Incapacity Defences in Scotland: An Opportunity Lost?'
Elizabeth Shaw from the University of Aberdeen will speak on, 'Reforming Mental Incapacity Defences in Scotland: An Opportunity Lost?', as part of the Law School's research seminar series 2013-14.
"Scots law recognises that mental abnormality can sometimes eliminate a person’s criminal responsibility for her actions. Two separate defences are relevant in this context: ‘automatism’ and ‘mental disorder’. The latter is a new statutory defence, which replaces the old defence of ‘insanity’ and was created following a report by the Scottish Law Commission. However, that report ignored automatism. This omission is puzzling, since automatism and the mental disorder defence are very closely related and the fuzzy borderline between them has given rise to considerable academic debate. By looking at the mental disorder defence in isolation, the Commission missed a golden opportunity to make sure that the criminal law takes a philosophically coherent and practically workable approach to people with mental abnormalities.
I will argue that there is a single moral rationale underlying both automatism and the mental disorder defence. This rationale appeals to the idea that moral communication is an essential function of the criminal law, conviction and punishment. A person should not be held criminally responsible if she lacks the rational capacities necessary to participate in this communicative process. I will further argue that automatism and the mental disorder defence should be merged into a single defence, based on rational incapacity."
- Speaker
- Elizabeth Shaw
- Hosted by
- School of Law
- Venue
- Taylor A19