The Effect of Mental Illness Under US Criminal Law

Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Vol. 65, P. 229, 2014

U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 13-25

14 Pages Posted: 22 Oct 2013 Last revised: 31 Jan 2015

See all articles by Paul H. Robinson

Paul H. Robinson

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Date Written: 2014

Abstract

This paper reviews the various ways in which an offender's mental illness can have an effect on liability and offense grading under American criminal law. The 52 American jurisdictions have adopted a variety of different formulations of the insanity defense. A similar diversity of views is seen in the way in which different states deal with mental illness that negates an offense culpability requirement, a bare majority of which limit a defendant's ability to introduce mental illness for this purpose. Finally, the modern successor of the common law provocation mitigation allows, in its new breadth, certain forms of mental illness as a murder mitigation, mitigating to a lesser form of murder or to manslaughter.

Keywords: Insanity, mental illness negating offense element, provocation, extreme mental or emotional disturbance, diminished capacity, partial insanity, American criminal law codification, psychology, competence, responsibility, culpability, mitigation

Suggested Citation

Robinson, Paul H., The Effect of Mental Illness Under US Criminal Law (2014). Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Vol. 65, P. 229, 2014, U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 13-25, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2343213 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2343213

Paul H. Robinson (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School ( email )

3501 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

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