MPC § 4.01 Substantial-Capacity Test
Definition
The American Law Institute's 1962 insanity formulation: a person lacks criminal responsibility if, as a result of mental disease or defect, they lack substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of their conduct or to conform their conduct to the requirements of law.
Related terms
- Appreciation vs Knowledge
- The MPC and Canadian Criminal Code use 'appreciate' rather than 'know,' requiring a deeper, emotionally integrated understanding of the nature or wrongfulness...
- BNS § 22
- India's insanity defence provision in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, replacing IPC § 84: an act is not an offence if done...
- Durham Rule
- The 1954 US Court of Appeals (DC Circuit) product test: an accused is not criminally responsible if the unlawful act was the...
- Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI)
- A US verdict alternative introduced in some states from 1975: the defendant is found guilty (and sentenced) but is entitled to psychiatric...
- Hari Singh Gond (2008)
- Indian Supreme Court ruling setting out the four elements for establishing the IPC § 84 (now BNS § 22) defence: mental illness...
- IDRA 1984
- Insanity Defense Reform Act 1984: US federal legislation passed after John Hinckley's acquittal that eliminated the volitional prong, raised the standard to...
- M'Naghten Rules
- The 1843 English House of Lords formulation providing that a defendant is not criminally responsible if, at the time of the offence,...
Explained in
- The Insanity Defence: M'Naghten, Durham, MPC and BNS § 22The American Law Institute's 1962 insanity formulation: a person lacks criminal responsibility if, as a result of mental disease or defect, they lack substanti...