Sanity and insanity. Russian criminal legislation does not define sanity

Insanity is a mental state that prevents the adequacy of awareness of the real picture of one’s own actions, as well as the inability of a person to predict and be aware of the danger of what is being done. The concept of insanity refers to the psychiatric register of conditions and is caused by pathopsychological disorders or other mental states deviating from the norm. It may have a temporary course, with minor changes in the biochemistry of the brain, or a permanent manifestation in the presence of a chronic mental illness.

Actions committed in a state of insanity are not prosecuted criminally, however, a person who is characterized by a state of insanity is subjected to forced hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital (which causes the popularity among criminals of the desire to portray their own inadequacy in order to avoid imprisonment). The concept of insanity is used exclusively in jurisprudence when a person commits an act that is dangerous or destructive to society; in other aspects, a different terminology is characteristic, often based on psychiatric diagnoses.

Sanity criteria and types

There are two criteria in criminal law that are components of insanity.

The legal moment is considered psychological and implies a lack of ability to perceive one’s behavior and, therefore, the impossibility of an objective assessment of one’s own actions.
The medical criterion indicates that the subject has one or more mental illnesses that cause insanity.

Taken together, these two criteria lead to the manifestation of a state of insanity. It should be understood that having a mental disorder, a person not only does not evaluate his actions, but also cannot objectively assess the reality around him for correct interaction.

Existing medical diseases were conditionally divided into 4 groups. Each of them has its own unique features of the manifestation and course of the disorder.

Chronic diseases that are persistent and tend to progress. This group includes complex, incurable diseases.
Disorders that have a temporary effect and can be cured with proper therapy, as well as a condition provoked by the influence of narcotic substances.
Congenital or acquired, as a result of injury or illness, mental changes that cause dementia. Once manifested, they persist for life. They do not allow a person to adapt to society, due to a decrease in the level of intelligence. Depending on the degree of complexity, these diseases are grouped in a certain sequence.
Other mental states that do not have a procedural basis. They can be either the consequences of past infectious diseases, or the influence of drugs, or a feature of the body, manifested as an absent-minded state of the emotional-volitional sphere.

Disease groups

I	II	II	IV
Manic-depressive psychosis, vascular atherosclerosis, cerebral syphilis, schizophrenia, senile dementia, epilepsy	Alcohol intoxication, short circuit reaction, hysteria, neuroses of all types, reactive psychoses	Debility, imbecility, idiocy	Certain degrees of psychopathy, drug withdrawal

Once insanity is established, with the loss of the objective side, the very meaning of the crime changes. In accordance with Art. 19 and 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the presence of even one of the points of each of the criteria is sufficient so that an object who is in an insane state at the time of the commission of a crime is not subject to criminal liability.

Defendants who receive such a court verdict receive a different kind of punishment - a compulsory measure is applied to them, consisting of compulsory treatment.

Limited Sanity

Limited responsibility in criminal law is a kind of cross between insanity and sanity. There are situations when, along with an existing illness, the criminal is recognized as partially sane, i.e. he understands what his actions and actions will lead to, but for various reasons he cannot control them.

Thus, in the presence of at least one sign (volitional or intellectual), we can state the limited capabilities of the subject. This situation mitigates guilt, but is also subject to criminal liability and occurs when:

neuroses;
alcoholism;
personality disorders;
drug addiction;
paranoia.

Age-related insanity

There is no specific concept of age of sanity in criminal law, but this category includes persons who, due to their young age, are not subject to punishment. These include children under 16 years of age, but if a particularly serious crime has been committed (murder, rape, robbery), criminal punishment is applied to children over the age of 14 years.

Legal approaches to determining insanity

The traditional interpretation of insanity is based on its definition through two criteria: medical (psychiatric) and legal (psychological). These criteria are understood, respectively, as the presence of an illness or other painful mental disorder and the resulting inability to realize the nature or meaning of one’s actions or to manage them. Both criteria of insanity are interrelated and mandatory. The absence of any of them excludes the presence of the specified state of a person’s psyche, since the insanity of a person includes a simultaneous combination of medical and legal criteria.

Insanity is a state of a person established by a court on the basis of a psychiatric examination, which excludes the application of criminal law in relation to him. The legal meaning of insanity is the release of a citizen who has committed a socially dangerous act described in criminal law from criminal and civil liability. To put it simply, an insane person can crash your car in an accident, beat you, rob your wife, rape your child, and nothing will happen to him for this, and no one will compensate you for either material or moral damage.

In modern Russian legislation, insanity is defined in Article 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

Article 21. Insanity

A person who, at the time of committing a socially dangerous act, was in a state of insanity, that is, could not realize the actual nature and social danger of his actions (inaction) or control them due to a chronic mental disorder, temporary mental disorder, dementia or other painful condition, is not subject to criminal liability. psyche.
A person who has committed a socially dangerous act provided for by criminal law in a state of insanity may be imposed by a court with compulsory medical measures provided for by this Code.

Insanity excludes the very concept of crime. The act of an insane person seems to be a case that entails only preventive measures, for example, placement in a psychiatric hospital, under the special supervision of guardians, etc.

But these measures are not a consequence of an act committed, but of the discovery of a painful condition that requires special supervision and treatment. No one is responsible for the civil consequences of a crime committed by an insane person, except in cases where a guardian has already been appointed by the court to the insane person before the commission of the crime. The guardian bears civil liability only if he could have prevented the commission of the crime and/or through obvious negligence allowed it to be committed. But in this case, liability is determined not by the fact that the crime was committed by an insane person, but by the fact that there was negligence of the persons whose duties included supervision. If it is proven that the person who committed the crime is in a state of insanity, criminal prosecution cannot be initiated, and the one initiated can be terminated.

Nevertheless, such a person does not remain free, because he is dangerous to society. Current legislation provides that “mad and insane”, if they cause death or encroach on the life of another or their own, are sent for compulsory treatment by court decision, even in the event that their parents or relatives wish to take upon themselves the obligation to watch look after them and treat them at home. The law provides for the possibility of placing persons who commit a crime in a state of insanity for treatment in closed psychiatric hospitals (there are eight such hospitals in Russia). In fact, this is the same prison, since it is almost impossible to escape from there.

Such a medical institution is an institution that has both the characteristics of a medical institution and a colony: there are bars on the windows, the doors to the rooms are locked, patients leave them only to eat, use the toilet or to breathe air in a small exercise yard. Personal space is limited, there is a lot of crowding of people. A person spends all his time in these conditions. He is isolated not only from society, but also from medical staff. The corridor where the doors open ends with bars. FSIN officers armed with service weapons are on duty in the corridor and outside the perimeter. There are fences and video cameras all around. In fact, the medical facility is equipped as a correctional facility. An insane person who ends up here must take medication, regardless of whether he wants to or not. At the same time, all unfavorable social ties are broken. After undergoing treatment under strict conditions, usually lasting several years, the patient is not immediately discharged to life. If doctors see that the condition is sufficiently compensated, the local commission sends a petition to the court to transfer the citizen to treatment with an enhanced monitoring regime. Then six months or a year passes, and if the state of mental health improves, the patient is transferred to a regular psychiatric hospital, then to compulsory outpatient treatment by a psychiatrist, of course, provided that his condition allows it.

In general, the more serious the socially dangerous act, the more stringent the requirements for the person who committed it, the more isolated he is, and he will definitely not be able to leave a psychiatric institution quickly. Some patients who show no improvement in their mental health and remain dangerous to society remain in such hospitals for years.

It is worth emphasizing that compulsory treatment cannot be considered a punishment - it is a precautionary measure to protect society from the subsequent actions of an insane person. At the same time, there is a common opinion that if a person has committed a crime, especially a resonant one, in a state of insanity, he evades responsibility, since compulsory treatment is not comparable to the committed act. However, the regime in closed medical psychiatric institutions is very strict; this is not a health-improving sanatorium with spa treatments and relaxing massages; specialized psychiatric treatment is applied to the patient.

Moreover, the perpetrator is not given a specific period of time for treatment, as is the case with prison. Here all key decisions remain with doctors. When they are sent to a hospital, a second medical commission is held either once a year or every six months, and if it recognizes that the person has recovered, which is not always the case, then he can be released.

Even after discharge, a person must be observed by a psychiatrist and registered, as happens with people released early from prison. But it may not come to this - often criminals sent for compulsory treatment can be left in hospitals for life if their illness is not treated.

Part 1 of Article 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation lists various types of mental disorders, including: chronic mental disorders, temporary mental disorders, dementia and other painful mental conditions.

Let us note that these concepts constitute the medical criterion of insanity, considered in conjunction with the legal one, which in turn contains:

intellectual - the impossibility of realizing the actual nature and social danger of one’s actions (inactions);
strong-willed, which means the inability to lead them;
Also, in the science of criminal law, a temporal criterion is highlighted, which links medical and legal criteria with the time of commission of a socially dangerous act.

A chronic mental disorder is understood as “a long-term mental illness that tends to progress, that is, to a gradual increase and complication of mental disorders.” Naumov A.V. noted that chronic mental disorders “can sometimes occur in attacks (that is, with an improvement or deterioration of the mental state), but they can leave behind a persistent mental defect.”

Such disorders usually include schizophrenia, epilepsy, progressive paralysis, bipolar disorder (the one that previously bore the “politically incorrect” name of manic-depressive psychosis, etc.). However, “the mere presence of the listed diseases is not a basis for declaring him insane.” In psychiatry, for example, there are more than 100 types of schizophrenia, many of which occur latently and, therefore, cannot influence the intellectual element of the legal criterion. Moreover, psychiatry is currently developing rapidly, finding new methods of treating mental illnesses that make it possible to achieve long-term remissions, which, of course, affects the course of many chronic mental disorders.

Temporary mental disorders include those diseases that develop quickly, last a short time and end with complete recovery.

Such mental disorders arise spontaneously, and are also “characterized by a dynamic course, usually accompanied by severe disturbances of consciousness, orientation, productive psychopathological states in the form of illusions, hallucinations and delusional interpretation of the environment. Temporary mental disorders include alcoholic psychosis in the form of delirium (delirium tremens), twilight disorder of consciousness (characterized by amnesia), etc.

Dementia refers to all mental disorders accompanied by persistent impoverishment and simplification of mental activity, characterized by disruption of cognitive processes, behavior, impoverishment of emotions and individual character traits (up to their complete disappearance).

Dementia is associated with a decrease or loss of a person’s mental abilities and is congenital or acquired as a result of one or another progressive mental illness. For example, oligophrenia is classified as congenital, and encephalitis is classified as acquired. So, we note that there are three degrees of dementia: mild (debility), moderate (imbecility) and severe (idiocy).

The last, fourth sign of the medical criterion most often includes those diseases that, although not classified as a mental disorder, may, at the time of exacerbation, be accompanied by mental disorders. Such, for example, as acute hallucinatory delusional states caused by infection (with typhoid and typhus or acute chemical poisoning), severe head injuries, brain tumors, drug addiction or sleepwalking, as well as some forms of psychopathy (severe schizoid psychopathy), some forms of deaf-muteness.

However, the signs of the medical criterion that we have considered do not yet provide complete confidence in the insanity of the person who committed the crime, since the presence of one of the listed diseases may not affect the intellectual or volitional elements.

The leading criterion for determining insanity is legal, indicating the depth of mental disorder, which does not allow a person to realize the social danger and the consequences of his actions (inactions) and manage them.

It is the legal criterion that indicates the condition under which a mental disorder acquires criminal legal significance.

The legal criterion is a generalized characteristic of the same clinical data on mental disorders, but from the point of view of their influence on the attitude towards the crime being committed, and consists of two signs:

intellectual, as a violation of the ability to understand the actual nature and social danger of one’s actions
volitional, as a violation of the ability to direct such actions.

Insanity of a citizen from a medical point of view

Chronic mental illness. It refers to a long-term, untreatable or difficult to treat mental disorder, usually resulting from organic brain damage. These diseases usually appear in the form of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and dementia of old age, in which age-related insanity occurs.
Short-term mental disorder. It is a temporary clouding of consciousness, usually occurring during the commission of a crime or immediately before it. Typically, the temporary disorder disappears a few hours (days) after the commission of the offense, and in the future the defendant does not show any direct or indirect signs of mental disorders. This category includes a pathological state of passion, a person being pathologically intoxicated, and a number of other reactive mental states.
Dementia (the medical term is mental retardation). It is characterized by a decrease in a person’s intellectual abilities, leading to a lack of critical control over his actions. Oligophrenia is established as either congenital or acquired - caused by pathologies or traumatic brain injuries. Medicine distinguishes 3 stages of dementia: mild (corresponding to debility), moderate and severe (considered as imbecility), deep (idiocy). Insanity is usually recognized in persons with signs of imbecility or idiocy.
Other diseases. They are understood as painful conditions that provoke mental disorders in a person, but are not related to mental illnesses. For example, this can include malignant and benign formations in the brain, injuries.

Causes of insanity and their interpretation in criminal law

For the non-application of the principles of criminal liability in accordance with Art. 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation allows, as stated above, only four possible causes of insanity. A more detailed interpretation of them from the point of view of medicine and law is as follows:

Chronic disorder. These causes of insanity include mental illnesses, both congenital and acquired, which are incurable or difficult to treat and last for a long time. At the same time, a chronic mental disorder can have a paroxysmal character. Vivid examples of such types of insanity are bipolar affective disorder, progressive senile dementia, the consequences of syphilis, epilepsy or schizophrenia.
Temporary disorder. Such a disorder implies the occurrence of changes in the psyche of a person immediately before or during the commission of a criminal act, as well as the disappearance of symptoms immediately after the commission of a crime, during the process, or in a short period of time after it. Examples of temporary mental disorders include pathological intoxication, pathological affect, as well as other reactive states that can be treated or do not require it at all.
Dementia. From a medical point of view, the state of dementia, or oligophrenia, can be caused by a number of mental illnesses, as well as deviations, both acquired and congenital. Most often, dementia occurs due to delayed brain development of the fetus or child in the first years of life. It should be noted that in the case of present dementia, the individual’s ability to be aware of his actions and have sanity is not excluded.
Painful mental states. Such conditions mean other situations in which a person is not able to realize his actions or stop himself from committing them in the case of a socially dangerous act. Moreover, such conditions can be caused by external factors. For example, a tumor or brain injury, spontaneous delusional and hallucinatory states due to existing disorders, and in other situations.

note

It is necessary to distinguish the state of passion or intoxication from similar pathological conditions. If the Criminal Code considers intoxication in some cases as an aggravating circumstance, and in no situations uses it as a mitigating circumstance, then pathological intoxication is a full-fledged state of insanity. Pathological affect also differs from physiological affect in that a person in such a state is truly insane, and, most often, the state of pathological affect is supplemented by amnesia.

Medical criterion

It includes:

Chronic mental disorder (schizophrenia, epilepsy, affective psychoses, chronic delusional psychoses) is characterized by a painful mental disorder and a change in attitude towards the world around us, when disorders of consciousness, memory, thinking, affect, behavior, and critical abilities are expressed.
Temporary mental disorder. It is understood as a wide range of painful psychotic disorders from reversible mental disorders, for example, reactive psychosis, to short-term disturbances of consciousness (exceptional states - twilight, drowsy states, etc.). They are short-lived and often end in recovery.
Dementia (severe mental retardation and various types of acquired dementia). These conditions must be chronic and progressive and must be characterized by impaired orientation, memory, understanding, learning ability, and a disorder of critical abilities.
Another painful condition is personality disorders, infantilism and others.

Criteria provided for by the Criminal Code

An intellectual characteristic is understood as the impossibility or inability of a person to exercise control over his own actions. This can be expressed both in the lack of awareness of the actions taken and their consequences, and in the inability to determine the social status of one’s own actions or inactions: when a person is aware of his own behavior, but due to psychological disorders, its significance for society cannot be correctly assessed by him. Age-related insanity also fits this criterion.
The volitional attribute is the inability of a person to exercise leadership over his actions. It can either flow from the intellectual or be a completely independent feature. For example, in the case of kleptomania, a person is aware of the illegality of his own actions, but due to a mental disorder he cannot refrain from committing a crime.

Legal criterion

Characterized by a lack of understanding of the nature of one’s actions (inactions) and possible consequences, as well as the inability to manage them. The legal criterion includes two components:

1. Intellectual is characterized by a person’s awareness of his actions, a full understanding of the situation and the motives of his own behavior, that is, it is the ability to understand the nature of his actions and be aware of their consequences.

Often, having committed an offense, the criminal is sincerely perplexed as to why they are trying to punish him. For example, a citizen stole a bicycle from a bicycle parking lot or from the entrance of a residential building in order, according to him, to ride it and return it.

2. The volitional component means the individual’s ability to direct his actions.

The volitional criterion is greatly impaired, for example, in people dependent on alcohol, drug addicts, and kleptomaniacs. They seem to understand that they are doing wrong, but they cannot do anything about their desires.

Insanity is a mandatory coincidence of both criteria. Otherwise, it is impossible to deprive a person of his sane status.

How can age affect the determination of a criminal's sanity?

Affect is considered to be quite close in content and meaning to the concept of insanity. Here we can mention mental disorders that do not exclude sanity. The fact is that not every mental disorder can cause a state of insanity. There is another category when a person, even with a similar disease, remains sane and can be held accountable on a general basis. This issue is regulated by Part 1 of Article 22 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In addition to the above, it is worth remembering about limited sanity, when the guilty person is considered adequate, but not fully. In simple words, a person is fully aware of the actual nature and danger of the actions committed, and therefore is capable of bearing responsibility for the offense committed.

This parameter is a very important criterion for establishing the obligation to bring a person to criminal responsibility. In the Russian Federation, with few exceptions, the age of criminal responsibility begins at 16 years.

Punishment can be avoided if, during the consideration of the case, it turns out that the teenager lagged behind his peers in development. We are not talking about mental disorder as such, but an examination is also ordered to identify the child’s developmental characteristics.

We bring specifics to the concept of sanity and insanity in criminal law. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a citizen suffering from the following mental pathologies will be declared insane:

Chronic psychodisorder. Hidden under this general category are all disorders that affect the system of higher nervous activity, which are characterized by a protracted nature, namely, they continue for a long time with a tendency for symptoms and manifestations to increase. This group rightfully includes schizophrenia, senile and atherosclerotic sclerosis, progressive paralysis, and protracted infectious psychosis. Even if the patient is characterized by periods of remission (temporary improvement in mental state), they cannot be evidence of his complete recovery.
Temporary psychodisorder. Another category that helps to reveal the types of sanity and insanity in criminal law. This is the name of an acute mental illness that occurs in the form of attacks, which can result in the complete recovery of the patient. What do doctors include in this category? Manic-depressive, infectious acute, reactive acute psychosis, alcoholic melancholy, alcoholic psychosis - delirium tremens. It is also possible to include exceptional conditions in the group. This is pathological intoxication, pathological effect, short circuit reactions, a number of forms of twilight conscious state.
Dementia. What does the medical criterion of sanity and insanity in criminal law allow us to include in this category? Persistent damage to mental activity, which can be either congenital or acquired as a result of a psychological or nervous illness. To be specific, these are debility, mental retardation, idiocy and imbecility.
Other psychological states. What is characteristic of this seemingly vague group? Conditions that may not be related to the mental system, but proceed so deeply that they are quite rightly equated to the diseases and pathologies already listed in terms of their severity. Doctors include morphine starvation, severe forms of psychasthenia and psychopathy in this group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytdevru

The presence of a medical criterion of insanity proves any of the diagnoses we have listed in the anamnesis of a citizen who has committed a criminal offense.

Therefore, everything is simple here. A medical criterion is a specific diagnosis.

Juvenile offenders

In recent years, the number of minors committing crimes has increased. For example, a 15-year-old child committed an offense. A forensic psychological and psychiatric examination was carried out, which established that he did not suffer from a mental disorder. However, the child is developmentally delayed, which is not associated with mental illness.

In such cases, the person is not held accountable because he could not fully appreciate his actions and their consequences. Especially often, mental retardation is associated not only with previous severe somatic or infectious diseases, biological characteristics of the child’s maturation (hereditary, genetic predisposition, pathology of the endocrine system, etc.), but also with social factors (unfavorable living and upbringing conditions, psychologically traumatic family conditions) . Such children have not yet developed volitional functions and the ability to critically assess the current situation. A mental test is also applied to them, where attention is primarily paid to the presence of mental illnesses and features of personality formation.

Thus, the criteria for mental retardation may be:

low intellectual level;
mental immaturity;
social immaturity;
antisocial behavior;
difficult character;
maximalism of desires;
desire for self-affirmation;
infantilism and others.

Let's give an example: A 15-year-old teenager is accused of committing theft by a group of people. An examination was carried out, a mental test, after which it became clear that he could not fully understand the nature of the actions he was performing, since after a head injury suffered in childhood, he began to lag significantly in development, showed an infantile character, loved to watch cartoons, communicated with children, younger than yourself in age. His psychological development corresponded to a child of ten or eleven years old. As a result of these reasons, the court declared the accused insane by age.

Sanity and guilt: the difference

We see that both guilt and sanity are associated with the volitional, intellectual sphere of activity of the subject. Let's look at their key differences:

Guilt is the (psychological) attitude of the criminal towards his own crime.
Sanity is the state of mind of the attacker at the time of his crime.
Guilt is a certain work of the psyche, will, consciousness to evaluate one’s own act, predict its consequences, guide one’s own behavior and achieve socially dangerous results.
Sanity is a prerequisite, without which the above would not be possible. Hence, only a sane person can be guilty.

It's time to move on to the second concept.

How to declare a person insane

The accused can be declared insane only by judicial procedure. If there is reason to doubt the normal mental state of the defendant, then first of all, a forensic psychiatric examination should be ordered in accordance with Art. 196 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Affect We can talk about affect only if the criminal or immoral actions of the victim (or his inaction) caused such a state in the accused. By the way, a mentally healthy person can commit a crime in a state of passion only once in his life. Otherwise, the question of his sanity arises. Read more here

There may be the following grounds for conducting an examination:

Undergoing treatment in mental health institutions.
Training in educational institutions for persons with mental retardation.
Traumatic brain injuries.
The behavior of the accused in the time preceding the crime, as well as during the trial.

The examination consists of the following stages:

The expert examines the case materials and determines the questions that need to be answered during the examination process.
Choosing a research method.
Direct examination, which includes a conversation with the defendant, testing reflexes, level of adequacy, etc.
Analysis of the results obtained.
Drawing up a conclusion, which in the future will be the main basis for recognizing the defendant’s insanity.

How is insanity established?

The need to conduct a psychiatric examination of the accused arises only when committing particularly serious crimes. In other situations, the procedure is carried out in case of inappropriate behavior of a citizen.

If the investigator has doubts about the adequacy of the defendant, he sends inquiries to psychoneurological dispensaries. Upon receipt of information that a citizen is registered in one of the medical institutions, a psychiatric examination is initiated. If the defendant has not previously applied to a psychoneurological clinic, he is considered sane.

A citizen’s mental health check can be carried out at the initiative of the investigator. However, a final recognition of a person as insane is possible only in court. Having studied the materials of previously conducted procedures, the judge makes a final verdict.

If a citizen has been sent for treatment to a psychiatric clinic, then every six months a procedure for his examination is initiated. This is stated in Article 102 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If the defendant is found healthy, the trial is resumed and the judge pronounces a guilty verdict.

Insanity is not a basis for restricting a citizen's civil rights. However, a person may be declared incompetent on the basis of a mental disorder. This fact is established in court.

Example of an intelligent trait

The behavior of a citizen suffering from idiocy is well illustrated by an example. When striking the victim, he cannot realize the harm, the danger of such behavior, the cause-and-effect relationship between his actions and the harm to the person.

Examples also illustrate those from people suffering from schizophrenia. For example, a mother with this mental disorder may strangle her child, thinking that she is just hugging him.

The following mental patients are most often susceptible to damage to the volitional component:

Epilepsy sufferers.
Those who have suffered from delirium tremens.
Kleptomaniacs (pathological craving for petty thefts).
Pyromaniacs (pathological urge to commit arson).

By what criteria is insanity assessed in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation?

The legal criterion will be divided into a couple of features:

Intellectual. This includes the inability of a citizen to realize social harm, the actual nature of his own actions (or inaction).
Strong-willed. And this is a lack of ability to control both one’s actions and inaction.

In this section it is worth mentioning two main criteria - legal and medical. Each parameter has its own characteristics, so it’s worth talking about them in more detail:

The legal criterion allows you to determine the signs of guilt in a particular person. Here we can note intellectual (a person is aware of his behavior) and volitional (he controls himself). The absence of one of the parameters still allows one to establish insanity.
The medical criterion is based on the results of diagnosing the citizen’s condition and identifying mental disorders in him at the time of the commission of criminal acts.

Only a set of criteria can cause the accused person to be declared insane. Only a court has the right to declare a person inadequate after receiving opinions from all specialists. The basis for sending a person for an expert assessment may be the presence of various facts and external manifestations of a mental disorder in the accused.

The problem of sanity - insanity

The legislation does not provide for a definition of the concept of sanity. Only insanity is revealed. However, it is stipulated that only a person who has reached a certain age, has a certain level of mental and psychological maturity, is aware of the commission of certain actions and leads them, is able to control his behavior, demonstrate consciousness and will, is responsible before the law. Only if these signs are present can we talk about the sanity of a citizen.

What is diminished responsibility?

Let's turn to Art. 22 of the Russian Criminal Code. Any psychodisorder that does not exclude the sanity of a citizen must be taken into account by the judicial system when assigning punishment. In addition, this pathology or disease is the basis for a compulsory series of medical measures.

We know about sanity and insanity in Russian criminal law. Now another category. Limited sanity is a psychological state of a person that cannot exclude criminal liability and subsequent punishment under the Criminal Code. But it says that when committing a crime, a citizen could only have a limited understanding of the actual nature of his act and understand its social danger, as well as guide his own behavior.

Is it possible to obtain a certificate of insanity?

Currently, medical institutions do not issue such certificates. The reason is that insanity is not a medical diagnosis. This is only a consequence of the development of a mental illness or pathological condition.

After undergoing an examination at a psychoneurological dispensary, a citizen can receive a certificate confirming the presence of a certain mental illness. This document can subsequently be used to make an expert opinion.

A citizen is declared insane in court on the basis of a forensic psychiatric examination report. Often, defendants pretend to be mentally ill in an attempt to avoid punishment. However, only a few manage to deceive an expert.

The concept of insanity in law

The punishment for cases of insanity, as well as all accompanying procedures, is specified in Article 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, a strict definition of insanity is not given there, so we will use a general explanation:

Insanity should not be confused with a state of passion. In the latter case, we are talking about a short-term clouding of consciousness, which will be caused by strong emotional excitement, an emotional component, but not by any physiological processes in the body.

Please note that the offender will be considered sane until the contrary is established by a forensic examination. If it is proven that the criminal was insane at the time of committing the crime, then the criminal act as such ceases to exist, since there will no longer be a subjective side

If it is proven that the criminal was insane at the time of committing the crime, then the criminal act as such ceases to exist, since there will no longer be a subjective side.

Concept of diminished responsibility

Between a person’s sanity and insanity there is a borderline state - limited sanity. In this case, the criminal could be aware of what he was doing and what the consequences would be, but for some reason could not influence his actions.