Mental disorder as the cause of a crime |
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| Authors: | Alec Buchanan Howard Zonana |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States;2. Clinical Nutrition Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;3. Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States;4. Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States;5. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States;6. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States;7. Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States;1. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Department of Human Services Psychology, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, United States;2. University of Maryland, School of Social Work, 525 W. Redwood St., Baltimore, MD 21201, United States;3. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Public Psychiatry, 75 Fenwood Road, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02115, United States;4. University of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 2120, United States |
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| Abstract: | An offender's punishment can be reduced when a court decides that his mental disorder reduces his responsibility for what he did. Courts have sought to establish whether a mentally disordered offender's responsibility is reduced by asking whether his disorder caused the crime. Acceptance of this “causation by mental disorder” criterion has fluctuated, however. This may be because causal explanations are not the types of explanations we are accustomed to offering for the kinds of acts that bring defendants, and psychiatric witnesses, to court. More often, we offer what philosophers have called “possibility” explanations for these acts. The application of psychiatry to possibility explanations has not been widely explored. It offers the potential for the improved use of psychiatric evidence in criminal proceedings. |
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