INJUSTICE AND MENTAL DISORDER >>
DEFICIENT DOCTORS >>
HIGH-RISK PATIENTS >>
CARE WORKERS’ RIGHTS >>
DIMINISHED CREDIBILITY
It is undeniable that where mental disorder is concerned there is always significant scope for abuse and, therefore in criminal proceedings, injustice. Psychiatric disorder is still diagnosed on largely subjective grounds, mostly on what a patient tells, or keeps from, a doctor.
The matter is of some importance in cases of homicide where mental disorder may form the basis for the partial defence of diminished
responsibility which, if successful, reduces murder to manslaughter. R v Latus [2006] EWCA Crim 3187, [2006] All ER (D) 280 (Dec)
offered the opportunity to explore the vexed issue of second thoughts in defence pleas.
The appellant had been convicted of murder in 2003. The victim had been a friend of the appellant who suffered from mental illness, apparently drug-induced psychosis. The victim had been killed, his head severed from the body and the body then transported elsewhere by car. The appellant had also been convicted of other serious criminal offences including manslaughter, arising from incidents taking place at about the same time.
