PMID- 27346664
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20180125
LR  - 20180131
IS  - 1873-6386 (Electronic)
IS  - 0160-2527 (Linking)
VI  - 49
IP  - Pt A
DP  - 2016 Sep-Dec
TI  - Behaviour that underpins non-pathological criminal incapacity and automatism: 
      Toward clarity for psychiatric testimony.
PG  - 10-16
LID - S0160-2527(16)30088-7 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.04.007 [doi]
AB  - Psychiatric expert testimony is challenging in cases of violence when the accused 
      person submits a defence that he or she was so overwhelmed by emotions triggered 
      by an upsetting event that his or her violent behaviour was an uncontrollable 
      consequence of the emotions. This defence is usually presented in terms of an 
      automatism particularly not attributed to a mental disorder. Clouding testimony 
      in these cases is the various definitions of both automatism and mental 
      disorder-definitions by which the jurisprudential distinction is made between a 
      sane and an insane automatism, or pathological and non-pathological incapacity 
      (NPCI). To avert testimony that is tainted from the very beginning by the lack of 
      agreed definitions, this article proposes that psychiatrists focus in their 
      assessment and testimony on particularly the behaviour as being distinct from the 
      jurisprudential concerns whether that behaviour constitutes an automatism and 
      whether it is (not) attributed to a mental disorder. This focus on the behaviour 
      affords clarity by which the properties of the behaviour may be examined 
      theoretically and clinically in terms of behaviour therapy, specifying 
      accordingly its antecedents, consequences, topography, intensity, latency, 
      duration, frequency, and quality. So informed, the behaviour that underpins NPCI 
      and automatism is described here as emotionally triggered involuntary violent 
      behaviour about which testimony may be given distinct from whether the behaviour 
      is (not) causally attributed to a mental disorder, and from jurisprudential 
      concerns with accountability.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
FAU - Joubert, Pierre Mauritz
AU  - Joubert PM
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, 
      University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. Electronic address: 
      pierre.joubert@up.ac.za.
FAU - van Staden, Cornelius Werdie
AU  - van Staden CW
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, 
      University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. Electronic address: 
      werdie.vanstaden@up.ac.za.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20160623
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Int J Law Psychiatry
JT  - International journal of law and psychiatry
JID - 7806862
SB  - IM
MH  - Automatism/*psychology
MH  - Crime/legislation & jurisprudence/psychology
MH  - Emotions
MH  - Expert Testimony/legislation & jurisprudence
MH  - *Forensic Psychiatry/legislation & jurisprudence
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Insanity Defense
MH  - Mental Competency/legislation & jurisprudence/psychology
MH  - South Africa
MH  - Violence/legislation & jurisprudence/psychology
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Defence
OT  - Emotions
OT  - Jurisprudence
OT  - Mental disorder
OT  - Murder
OT  - Violence
EDAT- 2016/06/28 06:00
MHDA- 2018/01/26 06:00
CRDT- 2016/06/28 06:00
PHST- 2016/04/14 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2016/04/18 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2016/06/28 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2018/01/26 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2016/06/28 06:00 [entrez]
AID - S0160-2527(16)30088-7 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.04.007 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Int J Law Psychiatry. 2016 Sep-Dec;49(Pt A):10-16. doi: 
      10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.04.007. Epub 2016 Jun 23.