Analysis of Doctrine of Insanity Defense in English Criminal Law

A person suffering from legal insanity cannot be held responsible for his criminal act. English criminal law recognizes the doctrine of the insanity defense against the criminal responsibility of an accused. The objective of this paper is to study the English law on insanity defense using the doctrinal legal analysis approach. The findings show that English law deals with legal insanity differently than medical insanity. However, the opinion of the medical professionals is mandatory to determine the legal insanity of a person. Furthermore, the standard of evidence to determine legal insanity is the balance of probabilities. English law treats the insanity defense as distinct from the defense of automatism and diminished capacity and the incompetency to stand trial is also dealt with differently than the defense of insanity in English law. English law on the defense of insanity must be interpreted comprehensively by adopting multidisciplinary approaches.