Sentencing offenders with impaired mental functioning R v Verdins, Buckley and Vo [2007] VSCA 102; (2007) 169 a Crim R 581 Maxwell P, Vincent and Buchanan JJ

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

Volumn 14, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 359-363

  Freckelton, Ian ^a,b  

^a ANZAPPL ^*  (Australia)

^b c/ Barristers Clerk Howells   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CRIMINAL JUSTICE; HUMAN; LAW; MENTAL DISEASE; MORALITY; PSYCHIATRY; PUNISHMENT; REVIEW; SYMPTOM;

EID: 36349029585     PISSN: 13218719     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1375/pplt.14.2.359     Document Type: Review

References (6)

1. See, for example, JRP Ogloff, 'Identifying and Accommodating the Needs of Mentally Ill People in Gaols and Prisons' (2002) 9(1) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 1.
2. T Sheldon, TD Aubry, J Arboleda-Florez, D Wasylenki and PN Goering, 'Social Disadvantage, Mental Illness and Predictors of Legal Involvement' (2006) 29 International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 249 at 250.
3. To the extent that there is a moral lessening of culpability, that should be reflected in the penalty imposed. See, for example, R v Juli (1990) 50 A Crim R 31 at 37; R v Hurd (1988) 38 A Crim R 454 at 461, 465; R v Balchin (1974) 9 SASR 64 at 68; R v Reynolds (1983) 10 A Crim R 30; and Lauritsen v The Queen (2000) 22 WAR 442 at 456-459; Thompson v The Queen [2005] WASCA 223 at [53].
4. Compare R v Wright (1997) 93 A Crim R 48 at 50-51.
5. Applying R v Skura [2004] VSCA 53 at [8]; R v Sebali [2006] VSCA 106 at [21] per Maxwell P, holding that 'What matters in any given case is not the label to be applied to the psychiatric condition but whether and to what extent the condition can be shown to have affected the offender's mental capacity at the time of the offence and/or at the time of sentence'.
6. See further I Freckelton, 'Bipolar Disorders and the Law' (2005) 13 Journal of Law and Medicine 153; R v Nilsson [2000] NZCA 144; R v Bridger [2002] NZCA 298; R v EJ, unreported, NSWCCA, 1 April 1997; R v Fosse [NSWCCA 347; Sherman v Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria [2005] VCAT 644; Thompson v The Queen [2005] WASCA 223 at [74].