New South Wales
Crimes Amendment (Diminished Responsibility) Act 1997 No 106
Contents
Page
1 Name of Act 2
2 Commencement 2
3 Amendment of Crimes Act 1900 No 40 2
Schedule 1 Amendments 3 New South Wales
Crimes Amendment (Diminished Responsibility) Act 1997 No 106
Act No 106, 1997
An Act to amend the Crimes Act 1900 to replace the defence of diminished responsibility; and for related purposes. [Assented to 1 December 1997]
| Section 1 | Crimes Amendment (Diminished Responsibility) Act 1997 No 106 |
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts:
1 Name of Act
This Act is the Crimes Amendment (Diminished Responsibility)
Act 1997.
2 Commencement
This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation.
3 Amendment of Crimes Act 1900 No 40
The Crimes Act 1900 is amended as set out in Schedule 1.
Crimes Amendment (Diminished Responsibility) Act 1997 No 106
Amendments Schedule 1 Schedule 1 Amendments
(Section 3)
[1] Section 23A
Omit the section. Insert instead:
23A Substantial impairment by abnormality of mind
(1) A person who would otherwise be guilty of murder is not
to be convicted of murder if:
(a)
at the time of the acts or omissions causing the death concerned, the person’s capacity to understand events, or to judge whether the person’s actions were right or wrong, or to control himself or herself, was substantially impaired by an abnormality of mind arising from an underlying condition, and
(b)
the impairment was so substantial as to warrant liability for murder being reduced to manslaughter.
(2)
For the purposes of subsection (1) (b), evidence of an opinion that an impairment was so substantial as to warrant liability for murder being reduced to manslaughter is not admissible.
(3)
If a person was intoxicated at the time of the acts or omissions causing the death concerned, and the intoxication was self-induced intoxication (within the meaning of section 428A), the effects of that self-induced intoxication are to be disregarded for the purpose of determining whether the person is not liable to be convicted of murder by virtue of this section.
(4)
The onus is on the person accused to prove that he or she is not liable to be convicted of murder by virtue of this section.
(5)
A person who but for this section would be liable, whether as principal or accessory, to be convicted of murder is to be convicted of manslaughter instead.
Crimes Amendment (Diminished Responsibility) Act 1997 No 106
| Schedule 1 | Amendments |
(6) The fact that a person is not liable to be convicted of murder in respect of a death by virtue of this section does not affect the question of whether any other person is liable to be convicted of murder in respect of that death. (7) If, on the trial of a person for murder, the person
contends:
(a) that the person is entitled to be acquitted on the ground that the person was mentally ill at the time of the acts or omissions causing the death…