Criminal responsibility in Sri Lanka: a descriptive study of forensic psychiatric assessments in remand prisoners charged with murder and related crimes
<p><strong>Background </strong>Persons of 'unsound mind' are absolved of responsibility for criminal acts under provisions of the penal code of Sri Lanka. However, being diagnosed with a mental illness does not automatically absolve persons from criminal responsibility. T...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists
2012-06-01
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| Series: | Sri Lanka Journal of Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://sljpsyc.sljol.info/articles/4456 |
| Summary: | <p><strong>Background </strong>Persons of 'unsound mind' are absolved of responsibility for criminal acts under provisions of the penal code of Sri Lanka. However, being diagnosed with a mental illness does not automatically absolve persons from criminal responsibility. There is no published data about criminal responsibility among offenders with mental illness in Sri Lanka</p> <p><strong>Aims </strong>The study aims to determine the proportion of patients who were deemed to be of unsound mind among those admitted for psychiatric assessment to the forensic psychiatry unit of a tertiary care centre for mental health.</p> <p><strong>Methods </strong>A retrospective study was carried out on patients who were charged with murder, culpable homicide or for being an accomplice to murder and were admitted to the tertiary care center for a forensic psychiatric assessment over a period of one year. Data was collected from court reports and clinical records.</p> <p><strong>Results </strong>Forty two persons were assessed (38 males, 4 females) during this period. Among them, 37 (88%) were diagnosed as having a mental illness. The commonest diagnosis was schizophrenia, seen in 23 (62.1%) patients. Of the 37 patients diagnosed with a mental illness, 13 (35.1%) were deemed to have had ‘unsound mind’ at the time of the alleged offence. Twelve patients (32.4%) diagnosed with mental illness were found to have a ‘sound mind’. In 13 (30.9%) patients, the mental state at the time of the alleged crime could not be determined due to the lack of information.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions </strong>Forensic psychiatric assessments lead to a significant number of mentally ill offenders to being declared as being of ‘unsound mind’ due to mental illness. A delay in the assessment limits the ability of the psychiatrist to provide an opinion on criminal responsibility.</p> <p>DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljpsyc.v3i1.4456">http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljpsyc.v3i1.4456</a></p> <p>SL J Psychiatry 2012; 3 (1):28-29</p> |
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| ISSN: | 2012-6883 2579-2008 |