The issue of diminished responsibility : comparative analysis

Abstract

Straipsnyje, pasitelkus Jungtinės Karalystės (įskaitant Škotiją), Vokietijos, Prancūzijos ir Rusijos pavyzdžius analizuojama Lietuvoje įtvirtinta riboto pakaltinamumo samprata, jos juridinis ir medicininis kriterijaiWith enactment of the new Criminal Code in the year 2000 the concept of diminished responsibility was introduced into the Criminal law of Lithuania. The reason for the introduction of such a norm was the absence of the possibility to mitigate criminal liability for the persons who made crimes being mentally ill but were not recognized being insane. On global level simultaneously the efforts to implement humane politics protecting the rights of person notwithstanding his status of mind was highlighted. Despite these trends the new norm of diminished responsibility introduced into the Criminal code of the Republic of Lithuania did not solve problems both of theoretical and practical level and raises many doubts till nowadays. (Example, the term "mental disorder" used in defining a medical criterion of diminished responsibility is analogous to the medical criterion of insanity, which causes difficulties in distinguishing these concepts in practice. When the norm of diminished responsibility was introduced into the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania and the previous special norms, whose constituent is the state of diminished responsibility (example, murder in a state of passion, infanticide), were left, the problem regarding the relation between the general and special norms arose.) The newly conducted research revealed that even though the number of mentally ill people is growing, the norm of diminished responsibility is rarely applied in the court practice and there is lack of a systemic approach to that phenomenon from scientific communityViešosios teisės katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta