insanity act 2006

rexy 053

if anybody could help me with information on this it would be great. i am doing an assignment which states the act made procedural reforms but did not radically reform the law substantially???.....reference to materials would be great!! :-/

Tom Young

S.3,4,5 and 6.

Detention centres;
Fitness to be tried;
Verdict of "innocent by reason of insanity"; and
Diminished Responsibility.

Discuss: Verdict change; Civil standard of proof for insanity and fitness to be tried - no real change; Infanticide repeal and codification; similarities to M'Naughten Rules viz codification; Doyle v Wicklow Co Co. irresistible impulse, etc.

That's a very easy assignment or essay. Net law.

rexy 053

hi Tom, your so helpful, i really appreciate it :-) your advice is to discuss the fact that it is a civil standard of proof 4 insanity and fitness to be tried? i dont understand what you mean by codification though? and irresistible impulse, all articles i come across on this are american? :-/

Tom Young

You should look at M'Naughten as it stands and what the court held, or the so called rules, versus new law.

To short circuit matters, a clever student might be inclined to visit the LRC website and read their reports and recommendations. EDIT:Defences and Intoxication/Automatism.

And, as if by magic, your quest for data will be satisfied.

Sure what would I know

Tom Young

What I mean by codification is the taking of advice from LRC and codifying in statute/Act the previous common law position

NoQuarter

By codification he means the made the rules from the M'Naughton case and the Law Reform Commission into legislation (via the 2006 Act), ie, they codified the common law rules.

Irresistible impulse was a feature that was discussed in the Doyle case Tom cited, read that case, it loosly translated to section 6 of the Act - diminished responsibility.

Are these assignments for a law degree?

Tom Young

Page 18: http://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/Reports/rDefencesinCriminalLaw.pdf .... It has the wording of the assignment therein.

My fee note is in the post. Have fun.

rexy 053

haha :-) okay, just so i am clear. you recommend contrasting m'naughton rules with curren law and then discussing bringing the law into line with the reforms suggested by the law reform committe? also to discuss infanticide repeal and the civil standard of proof. sorry that im so confused i've been away from law for a long time. this is an assignment id deffered and im struggling to begin :-(

Tom Young

Click above link: it's a two page summary of pretty much precisely what is being sought! Like almost verbatim. Two pages to read to give you the gist, in fact the blooming' answer. Don't be lazy now!

rexy 053

haha thanks tom your a sar. hi no quarter, yeah it is for a law degree. like i said iv been away for a long time. i really appreciate the guidance guys! :-)

rexy 053

star*

NoQuarter

rexy 053 wrote: »

haha :-) okay, just so i am clear. you recommend contrasting m'naughton rules with curren law and then discussing bringing the law into line with the reforms suggested by the law reform committe? also to discuss infanticide repeal and the civil standard of proof. sorry that im so confused i've been away from law for a long time. this is an assignment id deffered and im struggling to begin :-(

You cant really contrast M'Naughton with the current law because the current law (the 2006 Act), IS the M'Naughton rules (more or less). So you would discuss the fact that they gave the common law rules a statutory footing, more of a development than a contrast.

Read the Act itself, its wording is not bad and it explains it well. also talk about s.6 (diminished responsibility). It's a kind of, "insane in the moment" type defence. Just pop into whatever college it is and grab a criminal book.

rexy 053

thanks a mill :-)

Hippo

NoQuarter wrote:

Just pop into whatever college it is and grab a criminal book.

This.

rexy 053

i have written about diminsished responsibility and how the mcnaughton rules and irrisistable impulse have been put on statutory footing but what purely procedural reforms were made in the 2006 insanity act ireland?? my assignment is "the act intro'd a number of procedural reforms but did not radically alter he substantive law on insanity discuss the status of the defence of insanity before and after the act"....what else do i need to write about?? :-(

NoQuarter

rexy 053 wrote: »

i have written about diminsished responsibility and how the mcnaughton rules and irrisistable impulse have been put on statutory footing but what purely procedural reforms were made in the 2006 insanity act ireland?? my assignment is "the act intro'd a number of procedural reforms but did not radically alter he substantive law on insanity discuss the status of the defence of insanity before and after the act"....what else do i need to write about?? :-(

Section 4 - fitness to be tried and some of the higher sections that deal with what happens when a person is found insane such as how long they can be kept in detention for. Go through every section of the act, there is not many.

Tom Young

This is not a homework/assignment service.

chops018

They have to be found not guilty by reason of insanity within the meaning of the 2001 act (section 5 subsection 2 of the 2006 act) if this is the case then they will be committed to a designated centre until an order is made under section 13 of the 2006 act. Section 13 gives power to the Mental Health (Criminal Law) Review Board, and every so often, 6 months I think it is, they will evaluate the accused detention, this board is independent of the act and is to give regard to the accused's welfare.

The act brought about huge procedural reforms, it brings a balance to how a person is defined as being insane, it balances legal insanity with medical insanity. (There was an article about this when the act was introduced but I can't remember who wrote it or what it was called). For extra points mention the European Court of Human Rights case (read the case also) Wintwerp .v. The Netherlands (1979-1980), the act comes somewhat in line with this case.

The procedural reforms are in the act, don't be afraid to read through the act and analyse it and compare with how the Courts used to allow for a successful defence of Insanity and what followed.

EDIT: Found the name of the article, (2007) 7(1) HLJ 169 Article: The Law of Insanity and Diminished Responsibility in Criminal Law versus the Meaning of Insanity within the Medical Profession: an inevitable conflict? CLODAGH MARRY.

She presents some good arguments and shows how the act reformed the defence. Doubt you will get that article to handy though, it's part of an online journal database that you have to be a member of.

rexy 053

thanks a mill :-) sorry Tom just really nervous with this assignment :-(

rexy 053

1 quick quesion, was the law the same in england and ire before the intro of the act??