Insanity is a morbid mental state. Criteria, tests. Article 21 of the Criminal Code

The main task of forensic psychiatry is the problem of insanity. More than 90 percent of forensic psychiatric examinations are conducted to resolve this issue.

The problem of sanity - insanity

Legislation does not provide a definition of the concept of sanity. Only insanity is revealed. Nevertheless, it is stipulated that only a person who has reached a certain age, has a certain level of mental and psychological maturity, who reports on and conducts certain actions and who directs them, is able to control his behavior, manifest his consciousness and will. Only in the presence of these signs can we speak about the sanity of the citizen.

The concept of insanity

But there are people who can escape punishment for crimes committed.

Insanity is a painful state of mental activity, in which a person can not properly assess and manage his actions and actions, and report on their consequences (Article 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Such a person is not held criminally liable. The state of insanity refers only to the period of the crime, that is, it is limited by time. The loss of understanding the danger of acts, the inability to evaluate and guide them are most often found in people who are mentally ill.

The doctor, forensic psychiatrist as a result of a number of special diagnostic procedures has the right to evaluate a person's mental state and establish the formula of insanity. The recognition of the defendant in a crime as insane is exclusively the prerogative of the court. A person who is in the course of committing a crime in an insane state is discharged of responsibility and placed in a psychiatric hospital for treatment (Article 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The basis of insanity

It is possible to single out such criteria of insanity:

• Medical (biological);
• Legal (psychological).

Medical criteria

is he includes:

1. Chronic mental disorder (schizophrenia, epilepsy, affective psychosis, chronic delusional psychosis) is characterized by a painful disturbance of the psyche and a change in attitude towards the world around when disorders of consciousness, memory, thinking, affect, behavior, critical abilities are expressed.
2. Temporary mental disorder. It is understood as a wide range of painful psychotic disorders from reversible mental disorders, for example, reactive psychosis, to short-term disturbances of consciousness (exceptional states - twilight, sucking states, etc.). They are short-lived, often ending with recovery.
3. Dementia (mental retardation of a severe degree and various types of acquired dementia). These conditions must be chronic and progressive, must be characterized by a violation of orientation, memory, understanding, learning ability, a breakdown of critical abilities.
4. Another morbid condition is personality disorders, infantilism and others.

The legal criterion

Characterized by a lack of understanding of the nature of their actions (omissions) and possible consequences, as well as the inability to manage them. The legal criterion includes two components:

1. Intellectual is characterized by a person's awareness of his actions, understanding in full the situation and the motives of his own behavior, that is, it is an opportunity to understand the nature of his actions and to realize their consequences.

Often, having committed an offense, the perpetrator sincerely perplexes what they are trying to punish him for. For example, a citizen stole a bicycle from a bicycle parking lot or from the entrance of an apartment building in order, in his words, to ride and return.

2. The volitional component means the ability of the individual to lead his actions.

The strong-willed criterion is strongly violated, for example, in alcohol-dependent people, drug addicts, kleptomaniacs. They seem to understand that they are doing poorly, but they can not do anything with their desires.

Insanity is a mandatory coincidence of both criteria. Otherwise, you can not deprive a person of the sane status.

Disorders that do not exclude sanity

Quite often there are cases of bringing to justice persons with a mental illness that does not exclude responsibility (limited sanity). In such situations, Article 22 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation applies. This legal norm has been used in Russian legislation since 1997. In essence, it is identical to the category of reduced sanity applied in the criminal law of a number of foreign countries.

The introduction of this article provided an opportunity to more accurately determine the mental state of a possible criminal at the time of the crime. This category of persons is assigned a forensic psycho-psychiatric examination, during which an evaluation of the medical criterion (the presence of a mental illness in the subject) is made, which includes a variety of mental disorders and behavioral deviations. This criterion contains two positions - sanity and inability to fully understand and guide their actions and to foresee their consequences.

Such persons are recognized as sane and capable of being answerable to the court for their actions, but incapable of fully understanding and guiding their actions and foreseeing their possible consequences. That is, a person is imputed, he understands what is happening and what he does, but has a mental illness (for example, personality disorder) that does not allow him to fully control his actions.

Thus, the court will take into account the presence of mental illness in a person and, if necessary, can recommend him supervision and treatment from a psychiatrist in the place where he will be sent for punishment.

Crimes committed in a state of intoxication

Do not confuse the commission of a crime by a person with a mental disorder and a person intoxicated with alcohol or drugs. Drinking alcohol only temporarily limits the will and mental activity of a person (excepting is pathological intoxication). Therefore, such a reason will not be a mitigating reason for passing a sentence to him, which is directly stipulated by law.

Juvenile offenders

In recent years, the number of minors committing crimes has increased. For example, a child of 15 years committed an offense. A forensic psychological and psychiatric examination was conducted, which established that he did not suffer from a mental disorder. However, the child lags behind in development, which is not connected with mental illness.

In such cases, the person is not held accountable, because he could not fully assess his actions and their consequences. Especially often, the lag in mental development is due not only to previously suffered severe somatic or infectious diseases, biological characteristics of the maturation of the child (hereditary, genetic predisposition pathology of the endocrine system, etc.), but also by social factors (unfavorable living and upbringing conditions, family traumatizing the psyche) . These children have not yet formed strong-willed functions and the ability to critically assess the current situation. They also apply a test for the psyche, which primarily draws attention to the presence of mental illness and the features of personality formation.

So, the criteria for lagging behind in mental development can be:

• Low intellectual level;
• Mental immaturity;
• Social immaturity;
• Antisocial behavior;
• Heavy character;
• Maximalism of desires;
• The desire for self-affirmation;
• Infantilism and others.

Let's take an example: A teenager of 15 years is accused of committing a theft by a group of persons. A survey was conducted, a test for the psyche, after which it became clear that he completely could not understand the nature of his actions, since after the trauma of his head in childhood he began to lag far behind in development, manifested infantile character, liked to watch cartoons, talked with children, Is younger than himself by age. His psychological development corresponded to a child of ten or eleven years. As a result of these reasons, the court found the defendant insane by the age criterion.

Forensic psychiatric examination

Insanity is a matter that is decided by the court on the basis of a forensic psychiatric examination, which is conducted by a psychiatrist or a commission of doctors, forensic psychiatric experts on the basis of an investigator's decision or a court ruling.

Examination procedure

In the course of the examination:

• Mental condition of the subject;
• The ability of the subject to be aware of the nature and danger of his actions, as well as their possible consequences;
• The need for compulsory treatment;
• Issues of procedural capacity, the ability to participate and testify in court, and others.

Comprehensive expertise

In case of need for the most complete study of personality, a complex psycho-psychiatric examination can be appointed.

Based on the results of the examination, a conclusion is made on the condition of the person. The court makes its decision, taking into account the opinion of experts, but the conclusion itself is only advisory in nature.

Let's sum up the results

1. Insanity is a condition that exempts a person from all kinds of responsibility. It serves as the basis for sending the defendant to treatment.
2. The state of insanity is based on two criteria: medical and biological.
3. The limited sanity means that the person is sanitized, but at the time of committing the offense, there was a disease preventing the examinee from fully understanding and guiding his actions.
4. The presence of a backlog in mental development, which is not associated with a mental illness, may be the cause of release from liability before the law and the court.
5. Sanity and insanity are legal concepts, therefore it is only possible to recognize a person as insane in court.
6. The conclusion of the forensic psychiatric examination is of a recommendatory character, and the court makes the decision at its own discretion.

Realizing all responsibility before the society, the judicial authorities assign this status with extreme caution and following the results of thorough research, so as not to absolve from responsibility criminals who pretend to be mentally ill.