Pleading Mental Illness As A Defence Against Committing A Crime

In the current caseload of any criminal lawyer there will undoubtedly be those cases where the person accused of the crime was suffering from some form of mental illness.

According to Criminal Lawyers Perth, the degree of that mental illness will obviously vary from client to client, but in some of the extreme cases there is the possibility that the defendant might wish to enter a plea of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’.

If this is the case, and it can be shown that the person’s mental state is so bad, then consideration might even be given by the court that they are not even fit to stand trial.

To arrive at this conclusion a court will have ordered detailed reports from psychologists and/or psychiatrists who will complete that report with regards to the person’s mental condition.

If it were the case that the person was deemed not fit to stand trial, it would be done so on the basis that it was thought the defendant would not be able to

1) Understand the consequences of actions they had done

2) Understand the nature of any punishment if found guilty

3) Understand the aim of any punishment

Accordingly, they would be deemed in no fit mental condition to follow the proceedings within which they were going to be tried, and thus the trial would be called off.