Is murder sometimes not murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility?

I think that even in the cases of mental health such as exampled above, it should still stand as a prosecution of murder . I don't think I fully agree with the 'responsibility' part of diminished responsibility because irrespective of mental health, the actions of a person are what is responsible for the death so to speak ... so the responsibility shouldn't be lessened.

But maybe in the same way that offences and crimes are aggravated by things like racial hatred, sectarianism, disability etc etc, perhaps there is a place to recognise that the offence could be de-aggravated ( for lack of a better way of putting it ) by mental health. Then that way the murder charges and responsibility stand, but mental aspects are recognised in the judicial process.
 
What if the thoughts he was having told him to do it. schizophrenia is a terrible disorder. Obviously there's no excuse in killing people, but what made him actually do it.

I'm sure being locked away with the criminally insane for life is maybe worse than prison.
 
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There was a channel 4 "documentary" recently where they re-enacted a real murder trial, where the husband admitted killing his wife but argued manslaughter on grounds of "loss of control". An interesting watch - big spoiler below.

he was cleared of murder and the court accepted his defence. She had been subjecting him to sustained mental & emotional abuse, and he basically "snapped".
 
Tykey said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Nottingham attacks: Families call for law change after CPS review

A review following the Nottingham attacks suggests the government should reconsider homicide laws.
www.bbc.co.uk

The article is about the killing of the young couple Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, who were stabbed to death on 13 June by the paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane, and the bereaved families anger at the sentencing.

My opinion is that such a serious illness does heavily come into play into the judgement of the killer, that him being found guilty and given an indefinite hospital order is more suitable than a life prison sentence. He was found guilty of manslaughter and not murder. While I appreciate the families of the deceased must be heartbroken, I'm not sure if I agree with some of the comments, such as :

"...if you commit murder and you have mental health issues, then it is very unlikely you are going to be tried for murder...", this is wrong imo, it's only for very specific mental illness of the most severe type will this apply to, 99% of mental illnesses sufferers will still get prison etc.

"...I think the first question you have to ask is - can a paranoid schizophrenic commit murder in this country? Because it seems to me that you can't, and that's impossible for us to understand...". This shows a basic lack of understanding on what paranoid schizophrenia is and how it affects the decisions of the person imo.
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IF they were hospitalised for life then sure.
my worry of these cases is they will do a short shift then be "in control " for them then to be let out again.
so many times the people with mental illness who commit horrific crimes and it turns out they had history and were known about.
 
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bigmike20vt said:
IF they were hospitalised for life then sure.
my worry of these cases is they will do a short shift then be "in control " for them then to be let out again.
so many times the people with mental illness who commit horrific crimes and it turns out they had history and were known about.
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In this case it's a hospital order with restrictions. Release would require permission from the Secretary of State for Justice as well as the relevant doctor(s). The sentence is indefinite.
 
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