CS - Diminished Responsibility

• Byrne (1960)


  D was a sexual psychopath who strangled and mutilated a woman. Medical evidence showed his abnormality of mind meant he was unable to control his perverted desires. Ratio: Abnormality of mind means "a state of mind so different from that of ordinary human beings that the reasonable man would term it abnormal".
• Golds (2016)


  Psychotic condition
• Boots (2012)


  Post-natal Depression
• Brennan (2014)


  Mental disorder
• Wood (2008)


  Alcohol Dependency Syndrome
• Dietschmann (2003)


  Depressive Illness
• Jama (2004)


  Asperger's syndrome
• Hobson (1997)


  Battered Spouses' Syndrome
• Golds (2016) - Substantial Impairment


  What amounts to a "substantial" impairment is a matter of degree for the jury in each case. The impairment must be beyond merely trivial, but D's mental functioning need not be totally impaired.
• Dowds (2012) Intoxication


  D killed his partner in a knife attack while heavily intoxicated. He did not claim he was alcohol dependent. He could exercise choice over when he drank and would not drink during the week. However, once he had started drinking, he was unable to stop. Ratio: Voluntary intoxication at the time of the killing cannot be used as the basis of a defence of DR.
• Wood (2008) Intoxication


  Medical experts agreed that D had ADS but disagreed whether this had damaged his brain. Ratio: If alcohol has caused damage to the brain or become a disease, then DR may be relevant. If D has ADS then not every drink consumed has to be involuntary. The jury would have to consider all the evidence on the extent of D's dependency and his or her ability to control it. If the consumption is not due to the addiction, it is classed as voluntary drinking and its effects cannot be considered.
• Dietschmann (2003) Intoxication


  D had voluntarily taken alcohol and was also suffering from an abnormality: a depressed grief reaction to the death of his aunt. Ratio: Even though D had been drinking, he could use the DR defence, provided the pre-existing AMF (his depression) substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his fatal acts.