CC BY
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UDC 343.3/.7
Serebrennikova A. V.
Doctor of law, Professor of criminal law and criminology Moscow state University. M. V. Lomonosov
Russia, Moscow DOI: 10.24411/2520-6990-2019-10010 CONCEPT OF SANITY AND INSANITY: CRIMINAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS
Abstract
The article gives the basic conceptual concepts of sanity and irresponsibility. It is noted in the article that the subject of a crime may not be any natural person who has reached the age of criminal responsibility, it must still be sane. A person in a state of insanity is not subject to criminal liability and is not a subject of a crime (Article 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).The article emphasizes that sanity is a normal state of mind of a healthy person, expressed in the ability to be aware of the actual nature and social danger of one's deed and to lead it. In criminal law, the concept of "responsibility" is the antithesis of the concept of "insanity". Insanity is the inability of a person to give an account of his actions (inaction) and lead them at the time of the crime, due to a painful state of mind or dementia. The state of insanity is determined by the conclusion of a forensic psychiatric examination. The article briefly describes the relevant problems arising in connection with the determination of the state of insanity in practice.
Keywords: criminal law, imputation, insanity, insanity criteria, forensic psychiatric examination.
According the criminal law of the Russian Federation, not every individual who has reached the age of criminal discretion may be a subject of a crime, he/she must also be sane. A person in a state of insanity is not subject to criminal liability and is not a subject of a crime (Art. 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).^]
Sanity is a normal state of mind of a healthy person, expressed in the ability to be aware of the actual nature and social danger of his/her act and to direct it.
In criminal law, the concept of "sanity" is the opposite of the concept of "insanity".
Insanity is the inability of a person to be aware of his/her actions (inaction) and direct them at the time of the crime, due to temporary mental state or dementia.
The state of insanity is established by the conclusion of a forensic psychiatric examination.
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation assumes only a dichotomous division of mental states of a person who committed the crime. Dichotomy in formal logic is the division of the scope of a concept into two classes, the concepts of which are in relation to contradiction (that is, they are incompatible in truth and incompatible in falsity). In relation to the institution we are considering, this means that in relation to the incriminated act the person who committed it can be considered either sane or insane. Obviously, it is impossible to imagine a situation where a person is recognized as sane and insane or neither at the same time.
As for the so-called "diminished sanity", according to the Article 22 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the persons who committed a crime in such state are unequivocally called sane and established as subject to criminal liability.
Thus, the persons who committed the crime can at first be subjected to a dichotomous division into sane and insane. And only then you can add another step in the division and select "full" and "diminished" sanity. "Age-related insanity", which is not based on medical criteria, is an independent institution of criminal law and is not included in this division at all (these persons
are sane, but are not subject to criminal liability on other grounds, which will be discussed below).
Due to the considered requirement of formal logic the statement that sanity is not the opposite of insanity does not comply with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the above, in the absence of at least one criterion there is no state of insanity. In this case, a person can only be recognized as sane (including "diminished sanity"). This means that sanity and insanity are mutually exclusive concepts and that establishing one of these states excludes the other. In the light of all this, the point of view regarding insanity as a concept of inverse sanity does not contradict either the current criminal legislation or the requirements of formal logic.
The legal definition of insanity contained in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation issued in 1996 reveals the attitude of the Russian legislator to this important institution of criminal law. Insanity in the current criminal law is based on two criteria: medical and legal. Each of these criteria includes several signs. For a person to be declared insane, it is required to establish at least one sign of a medical and at least one sign of a legal criterion. This is confirmed by the provisions of Art. 22 of Criminal Code of the Russian Federation issued in 1996 (diminished sanity). This is a new law. Its essence is that a person who committed a crime in a state of mental disorder is considered sane, although he/she could not fully understand the actual nature and social danger of his/her actions (inaction) or direct them. Such person is not exempt from criminal liability, however, when sentencing the court considers this circumstance and, in addition, may impose compulsory measures of a medical nature on convict. Thus, in the text of Art. 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the signs of a legal criterion (could not be aware or direct) and the signs of a medical criterion (the corresponding criminally relevant mental states) are separated from each other by "or" conjunction. In formal logic, such judgments are called disjunctive, and they
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always state the presence of at least one of several situations.^]
The signs of the medical criterion of insanity are the so-called criminally relevant mental states.
First, an inveterate mental disorder that comprises all long-term and immedicable mental illnesses (for example, schizophrenia, mania co-depressive psychosis). Second, a temporary mental disorder, which includes a large group of so-called exceptional conditions arising in mentally healthy people and ending with recovery (for example, pathological intoxication, pathological affect, etc.).
Third, dementia, which is characterized by a persistent decrease in intellectual activity and may be congenital (oligophrenia) or acquired (dementia). According to severity, there are three degrees of oligophrenia: debility (mild), imbecility (moderate) and idiocy (deep). The basis for recognizing a person as insane is a moderate degree of dementia, or a complicated debility. Cases of severe dementia are not found in judicial practice, since persons suffering from idiocy are helpless. [2]
And, finally, another diseased state of mind - diseases that do not have a jurisdictional basis and include so-called comorbid mental disorders or mental anomalies equivalent to mental disorders.
For a person to be recognized as insane, it is necessary, in addition to the medical criterion, to establish a legal criterion for insanity. According to Article 21 of the Criminal Code, it is the inability of a person to be aware of the actual nature and public danger of his/her actions, or in the inability to direct his/her actions (inaction). The first sign (non-awareness) characterizes the processes occurring in the mind of the person committing the crime, therefore in the literature it is usually called intellectual. The second sign (inability to control one's actions) is usually called volitional, since it affects a sphere that must be controlled by a person's will. The legal criterion of insanity acts as a quantitative characteristic of a medical criterion and means that mental illness of a person who committed a crime has reached such an extent that it can influence his/her intellectual and volitional sphere in a certain manner.
We note that some psychiatrists reject in their works the division of legal and medical criteria for insanity adopted by the doctrine of criminal law on the
grounds that the literal text of the law does not go beyond the limits of medical understanding of the problem. They declare both criteria medical, since the inability to be aware their actions and direct them is the essence of any mental illness.
During the debate on the criteria of insanity, we cannot ignore the content of Article 21 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, according to which the presence of mental disorder in the absence of a legal criterion does not give grounds to speak about the insanity of a person who committed crime. It seems that different interpretation of this norm does not correspond to the current Russian criminal legislation.
Diseased violations of the intellectual (inability to recognize the actual nature and social danger of his/her actions) and volitional spheres (inability to control his/her actions or inaction) can be associated with each other, that is, they can exist simultaneously, but they can also exist independently. In the latter case, the possibility of a person being recognized as insane is excluded.
Insanity is established in relation to a specific socially dangerous act, and at the time of its commission. Final decision on whether a person is recognized as insane is taken only by the court, and the conclusion of a forensic psychiatric examination of the person's sanity or insanity is not mandatory.
Thus, the issue of the subject's sanity or insanity concerns rights of the individual, therefore the problem under consideration is fraught with legal and socio-political significance and importance. It is obvious that the problem of sanity and insanity is one of the complex, interdisciplinary problems for science and practice and requires its further development both in criminal law and in forensic psychiatry.
Bibliography
1. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. M., 1996.
2. Minnehanova D. R. On the concept of sanity and insanity, and criteria of insanity in criminal law // Young Scientist. - 2017. - №3. - p. 450-453. - URL https://moluch.ru/archive/137/38093/ (access date: 03/16/2019).
© Serebrennikova A.V., 2019
