In cases of unlawful acts, the state of mind of the perpetrator at the time of the act and afterwards may prove to be essential to the outcome of any potential criminal proceedings against him or her. Establishing insanity in relation to a crime is extremely important for two reasons.
First, when at the time of committing the crime, the perpetrator was suffering from mental underdevelopment or prolonged, or short-term disorder of consciousness, it in relation to him does not can be realized criminal liability . This means that if a criminal case is initiated, it must be pronounced acquittal verdict.
Secondly, if, after the criminal proceedings have been instituted, the perpetrator has suffered a prolonged mental disorder that is assessed as insanity at the time of the crime, the proceedings should be terminated.
In Bulgarian criminal law, there is a presumption of sanity. That is to say, every perpetrator of a crime is considered to have been in a state of being able to understand a13> understand the nature and significance of their actions, and to control their behavior, unless if it is not proven otherwise.
Theoretically, the prosecutor has a duty to monitor insanity in criminal cases and, if there is any doubt, to appoint an expert. In practice, however, this either happens very rarely or is done formally, i.e., even if an expert examination is appointed, the right questions are not asked, the necessary documentation, including medical documentation concerning the perpetrator’s condition, is not collected, and other evidence relevant to establishing this condition is not collected. Thus, it often turns out that even if an expert examination has been appointed, its conclusion is incorrect or incomplete.
This means that, in practice, the burden of proving insanity in a criminal case lies with the accused/defendant and their defense counsel. Therefore, it is advisable to engage a criminal defense attorney who has the necessary experience and knowledge in this area.
Insanity in the case of a crime: mental underdevelopment
Mental underdevelopment is defined in the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, with the term “mental retardation.” In this case, the legal term “underdevelopment” and the medical term “retardation” are synonymous and refer to the same condition, characterized by a certain degree of intellectual deficit in the person.
According to ICD-10, there are several degrees and forms of mental retardation: mild, moderate, severe, and profound. When a specific case does not fall under the diagnostic criteria for these degrees, possible diagnoses are “other mental retardation” and “mental retardation, unspecified.”
A few words about the degrees of mental retardation
1. Mild mental retardation
Mild mental retardation is characterized by a general impairment of cognitive, speech, motor, and social abilities, i.e., the ability of a person to correctly perceive and assess their surroundings, form and articulate speech, control their body movements, and establish contacts. For the purposes of criminal law, cognitive abilities are of the utmost importance.
With this degree of mental underdevelopment, patients have an IQ between 50 and 69 points, which corresponds to the intellectual age of children between 9 and 12 years old.
Although according to Bulgarian law, persons under the age of 14 cannot be held criminally responsible, this does not mean that such a provision necessarily applies to persons whose intellectual age is lower than 14 years.
In this case, insofar as persons suffering from mild mental retardation still possess a certain degree of cognitive ability, they may be held criminally responsible if they were able to understand the nature and significance of their actions and to control their behavior.
The establishment of reduced or limited cognitive abilities, without them being completely excluded, does not lead to a finding of insanity in a crime, but may lead to the imposition of a lower sentence upon conviction.
2. Moderate mental retardation
The intellectual age of individuals suffering from moderate mental retardation varies between 6 and 9 years. Their condition is characterized by a delay in the development of their intellectual and adaptive abilities to an intellectual level that is below average for their biological age.
These persons may be criminally liable for crimes that are much simpler in terms of their mechanism of commission, e.g. murder, bodily harm, simple theft, destruction and damage, arson, etc., but only if they were sufficiently capable of understanding the unlawfulness of their actions and desired the harmful consequences to occur.
Here, too, limited understanding cannot lead to a finding of insanity in the case of a crime, but may result in a lighter sentence.
3. Severe mental retardation
With this degree of mental retardation, the intellectual age of patients ranges between 3 and 6 years. This condition is characterized by severe impairment of cognitive, speech, motor, and social abilities.
Patients with severe mental retardation are unable to perceive their surroundings correctly. They lack practical skills and concentration. Motor activity is impaired to the extent that they are unable to care for themselves. They do not develop social skills.
This means that severe mental retardation is an absolute prerequisite for establishing insanity in a crime, since the condition itself implies that the patient is in no way capable of understanding either the nature or the significance of their actions, nor can they consciously control their behavior.
4. Profound mental retardation
This degree of mental retardation is characterized by a severely limited ability to understand the surrounding environment. Complete or very low degree of motor activity. Complete or very low speech ability, which is usually expressed only through incoherent sounds. There is a complete lack of self-care and social skills.
Profound mental retardation disrupts absolutely all processes in the human body to such a serious degree that it can be assumed that consciousness is completely absent. That is why it is very rare for such patients to commit a crime, but if they do, they are found to be completely insane.
Insanity in the case of a crime: prolonged or short-term disorder of consciousness
Insanity in relation to a crime may also be established in cases of prolonged or short-term mental disorder that was present at the time the crime was committed.
As a prolonged mental disorder determining the presence of insanity in a crime, all current mental illnesses are assessed, e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, epilepsy, and other disorders whose symptoms include paranoia, mania, auditory and visual hallucinations.
If a person has been diagnosed with a mental illness but is in remission, it is possible that they will not be found to be criminally irresponsible for a crime.
Certain degenerative diseases of the nervous system, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s syndrome, may also be considered as a persistent disorder of consciousness leading to criminal irresponsibility.
In order to establish insanity in a crime and acquittal, the prolonged mental disorder must have led to a complete exclusion of the perpetrator’s ability to understand the nature or significance of their actions or to control their behavior. If this ability is only limited, a lighter sentence may be imposed.
Example
An elderly military veteran with dementia shoots a random passerby, believing that he is on the front lines and that the passerby is an enemy soldier. There is a persistent disorder of consciousness that prevents the veteran from understanding the nature and significance of his actions and from controlling his behavior.
A short-term mental disorder that determines the presence of insanity in a crime is assessed as those conditions that are not actual mental illnesses but in one way or another exclude the possibility of correctly perceiving the surrounding environment. These include psychosis, drug withdrawal, hallucinations that do not originate from a mental illness, etc. In some cases, alcoholism, drug addiction, and gambling addiction can also be assessed as short-term mental disorders.
In order to establish insanity in a crime and acquittal, the prolonged mental disorder must have led to a complete exclusion of the perpetrator’s ability to understand the nature or significance of their actions or to control their behavior. If this ability is only limited, a lighter sentence may be imposed.
IMPORTANT! There are cases in which, after committing a crime, the perpetrator falls into a state of prolonged mental disorder that excludes criminal responsibility. In this situation, the criminal proceedings against him should be terminated. If the mental disorder is short-lived, the criminal proceedings are suspended until the person is cured.
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Silvia Petkova Sole Proprietorship Law Firm is an international law firm specializing in criminal law, with specialists who have extensive experience and practice in providing defense in cases of insanity in criminal cases.
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