Engelsk titel: Automatism and the law in Norway 1981-2000
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Författare:
Harvig P
;
Rosenqvist R
;
Stang HJ
Email: paal@hartvig.net
Språk: Nor
Antal referenser: 10
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 03071021
Sammanfattning
BACKGROUND : Automatism in criminal cases is a medical, legal and ethical challenge in most countries, as it often leads to acquittal in criminal cases. In Norway it is also a semantic problem; the term "unconsciousness" is used in criminal law in a meaning that differs from its normal sense of coma.
INTERPRETATION : Many assessments were of insufficient quality; this may give rise to questions regarding equal treatment under criminal law. We propose some changes that are called for to Norwegian legislation and practice in the field.
RESULTS : The main reasons for concluding that automatism was present were: toxic (mainly alcohol) in 64%, psychogenic in 24%, and organic in 12% of the cases. The two most frequent crimes in the sample were manslaughter (29%) and intoxicated driving (21%). In 33% of cases the court did not return an acquittal based on automatism. In 29 % of the cases we disagree with, and in a further 36% we are in doubt about, the conclusions reached by the forensic psychiatrists.
MATERIAL AND METHODS : In the years 1981-2000 the conclusion "unconsciousness"/automatism was reached in 42 cases by forensic psychiatrists. We have scored their assessments regarding demographic, social, criminological and psychiatric variables in the felons.