Recognised Medical Condition
Definition
The diagnostic threshold in CJA 2009 § 52, aligning the UK diminished-responsibility defence with DSM-5 / ICD-11 categories; prevents non-diagnostic emotional or moral claims from grounding the defence.
- Legal source
- Coroners and Justice Act 2009, s.52
- Defence affected
- Diminished responsibility
- Diagnostic alignment
- DSM-5 / ICD-11 categories
- Jurisdiction
- England and Wales
Common questions
Why did the law tighten the diminished-responsibility threshold to require a recognised medical condition?+
The pre-2009 test allowed broader, less clearly defined claims of abnormal mental functioning, so the reform anchored the defence to conditions with formal diagnostic criteria, reducing the scope for purely emotional or moral arguments to qualify.
Would an intense but undiagnosed emotional state, such as extreme jealousy, satisfy this threshold on its own?+
Generally not. Without a corresponding diagnosis under a recognised classification system, an emotional state alone does not meet the statutory threshold, though it might still be relevant to sentencing or to a different partial defence such as loss of control.
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