Mental Illness And Crime

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Mental health disorder is defined as “a wide range of mental health conditions- disorders that affect your mood thinking and behaviour.” (Mayo Clinic) (2014) An individual who has been convicted of a crime, but who is proven to have a mental health illness, cannot be held criminally responsible, as they lack the mens rea to commit the crime. This does not, however, mean that they are free to walk out of the court, however. If an individual is proven to have a mental health illness, they are typically, depending on the severity of the offence, admitted to a facility that will help them to deal with their mental disorder. If the offence is severe enough, such as murder, or any other crime that would give a typical individual a life sentence,
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