On the concept of sanity and insanity, and the criteria for insanity in criminal law

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.

Signs of insanity

There are three states of the human psyche that characterize varying degrees of adequacy: sanity (absence of pathologies of consciousness and its altered states), insanity (violation of the person’s sphere of awareness and the ability to adequately perceive reality, as well as the processes of thinking), limited sanity (in the presence of a diagnosed disorder of the mental sphere , in which the ability to perceive and analyze is not completely lost, i.e. a person is able to evaluate most of his behavior adequately and only some points or details may indicate minor deviations in the assessment). Based on the results of the diagnosis of the medical commission and the identification of the degree of mental disorders, a punishment is selected, its mitigation or replacement with compulsory treatment.

To determine insanity, a certain procedure has been developed, based on determining the signs of insanity. It is worth noting that a state close to insanity or potentially dangerous behavior are not considered in this context and can only be a recommendation for relatives to be more careful. But as long as there is no perfect action in which the state of insanity will be confirmed by a medical commission and will be combined with a violation considered as such according to legal norms, we can only talk about mental disorders.

The causes of insanity may be within the framework of medical indicators, biologically determined (disorders of mental processes), and also have psychological characteristics (inability to understand one’s actions).

Determining insanity is a task not only of the trial and the medical commission (usually this happens after the action has been committed), but is also a necessary requirement for society. This need is due, first of all, to the fact that knowing the signs of insane behavior, it is possible to provide timely assistance and prevent sad consequences. Cases when they tried to come to an agreement with a person in a state of lost consciousness and appealed to logic had disastrous consequences, since a person in such a state does not hear either arguments or the voice of reason, and delaying the call of a psychiatric team contributed to the commission of a crime. Also, people who are unable to assess the degree of sanity of their opponents often themselves become victims of clouded consciousness or a state of passion in which it is quite difficult to stop a person (a characteristic state for a psychotic exacerbation is an increase in physical strength and speed, a decrease in sensitivity to the words of others and not noticing pain - in this state, without knowing the signs of insanity, you can harm a person and suffer from his actions).

The first sign of insane behavior is a lack of awareness of the destructive and threatening consequences of one’s own actions for oneself and society. This includes examples such as lighting a pioneer fire in the middle of a nine-story apartment, laying out pebbles on rails, feeding a baby raw minced meat, and the like. By carrying out these actions, a person may not take into account the negative consequences, believing that he is not doing anything wrong or even doing something useful.

The second sign is a person’s inability to control his own actions. This includes affective outbursts, after which a person does not remember what happened for a certain period of time, as well as exacerbations of psychopathic diseases. With manic-depressive psychosis, a person may be unable to control his own excitement, go somewhere, run; with paranoid disorder, he may attack people who have some sign that is frightening for him, due to schizophrenia, he may throw a child out of a window on orders votes. There is no need to talk about any control in such cases; in case of mental disorders, the volitional sphere suffers, and in case of affective outbursts (which are a temporary state of insanity and arise as a result of severe emotional shock), memory may also suffer. The only difference is that with a psychiatric diagnosis, the time required to normalize the psyche is quite long and appropriate treatment is necessary, while the affect goes away on its own and drug therapy can only be supportive along with psychotherapy aimed at obtaining ways to regulate and prevent such outbursts. Characteristic of alcoholic delirium, drug-induced impairment of consciousness and psychotic exacerbation - amenable to treatment and full recovery.

The third sign is a complete lack of understanding of one’s own actions and their nature. Obvious negative actions that have no basis in fact - throwing people off a platform onto subway tracks, breaking all the pencils in a box during math class, pouring arsenic into soup. The actions are characterized by a painful, chronic and irreversible mental disorder.

The reasons for insanity in this case may lie in the area of ​​intellectual disability, with stable dementia, an increasing chronic personality defect, the progression of a psychiatric disease - it is practically impossible to treat, a disability group is issued, or a conclusion is issued on lifelong hospitalization, since the person is incapable of independent existence.

Procedure for declaring insanity

Not every criminal offense requires a forensic psychiatric examination. Then how to declare a person insane in a criminal case?

In all particularly serious crimes against a person, a psychiatric examination is carried out.

In other cases, it will be carried out only when the investigation receives information from psychoneurological dispensaries that the defendant is registered there.

If he is not registered with a psychiatrist, no one will examine his mental health.

But if the investigator sees signs of mental illness in the defendant’s behavior, he can initiate an examination.

Who determines sanity? The decision to recognize a defendant in a criminal case as sane is made exclusively by the court.

According to Art. 102 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, every 6 months the person who was sent for medical treatment is examined.

If the defendant in the case is found to be healthy, and the fact is proven that at the time of the commission of the crime he was also sane, criminal liability may be applied to him.

The length of treatment for an insane person is determined individually in each case.

Insanity does not imply restrictions on civil rights, but on the basis of insanity a decision may be made about the defendant's incompetence.

Notes

1. ↑ Borodin S.V.
   Insanity // Legal Encyclopedia / edited by. ed. B. N. Topornina. - M.: Yurist, 2001. - P. 602. - 1272 p. — ISBN 5-7975-0429-4.
2. ↑ 1.5, § 2 D. ad legem Aquiliam, 9, 2; 1.23 D. de furtis 47, 2; i. 12 D. ad legem Corneliam de sic. 48.8.
3. ↑ Pavlov V. G.
   Subject of the crime and criminal liability. - St. Petersburg: Lan, St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 2000. - P. 65-66. — 192 p. — ISBN 5-8114-0260-0.
4. ↑ Nazarenko G.V.
   Legal and criminological significance of criminally relevant mental states. — Orel: Orel State Technical University, 2002. — P. 83. — 200 p. — ISBN 5-89963-045-7.
5. ↑ See: Shishkov S. The concepts of “sanity” and “insanity” in investigative, judicial and expert practice // Legality. 2001. No. 2. P. 29.
6. ↑ 1 2 3 4 Nazarenko G.V.
   Insanity in criminal law. - Orel, 1994. - 104 p. — ISBN 5-86843-003-4.
7. ↑ Bulletin of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. 1999. No. 7. P. 11.
8. ↑ Spasennikov B.A. On the issue of the defendant’s sanity // Russian judge. 2013. No. 4. pp. 19-22.
9. ↑ See: Spasennikov B. Sanity as a category of criminal law // Criminal law. 2003. No. 2. P. 76
10. ↑ Criminal law of Russia. Parts General and Special / Ed. A. I. Raroga. M., 2004. S. 118-119.
11. ↑ See: Criminal law of the Russian Federation. General part: Textbook. Workshop / Ed. A. S. Mikhlina. M.: Yurist, 2004. P. 133-134.

This page was last edited on April 12, 2016 at 12:42 pm.

Exclusion of sanity criteria

Civil legislation has established that the general period of legal capacity of citizens is limited to eighteen years. Moreover, for certain articles the disposition provides for bringing to justice a sixteen-year-old citizen.

A citizen's education at school or in a secondary specialized institution should also be assessed, from the point of view of lagging or advancing, in the development of the person who committed the crime.

In this case, both psychiatric and pedagogical examinations are prescribed. Only a combination of assessments by experts in various fields of personality research can give an unambiguous answer about sanity.

The elements of the crime for insanity of minors must contain:

1. Age from 16 years.
2. No developmental delay.

Insanity as a category has both legal and medical implications.