Intoxication??? (1 Viewer)

[Teoh]

Is self-induced intoxication still a partial defence for reducing murder to manslaughter?
I thought it was, as it can lead to no mens rea...but townie's notes says no?

 

[= Jennifer =]

Townie is right under the crimes act 1900 (nsw) and the crimes act 1914 (cth) it is not accepted in the court of law

 

[Teoh]

...Then if its self-induced, can u go to diminished responsibility?

...I'm not gonna ad to ur signature...hahahaha

 

[mcjaffa]

Is self-induced intoxication still a partial defence for reducing murder to manslaughter?
I thought it was, as it can lead to no mens rea...but townie's notes says no?

i'm pretty sure intoxication is a mitigating factor that may be considered in sentencing, but not in order to reduce a charge from murder to manslaughter. to do this, it would have to fall under the category of, say, diminished responsibility, and... it doesn't as far as i know, unless it were for example, unknowingly induced.

i hope that helped.. i had to check my notes!

 

[SarahMary]

it is only a partial defence if you were accidentally intoxicated to the point where you could not form the mens rea, but as for just going out and getting drunk, well... nope,it won't work

 

[santaslayer]

it'll only work to its full potential if there was no intention of being intoxicated...

 

[Teoh]

Does it work for deminished responsibility then?
Isn't there a loop hole then, where you can be under the influence of drugs, and still use deminished responsibility...or...

 

[maka]

yeah i still think u can use voluntary intoxication as a partial defence (at the time of my notes) as the mens rea may not be able to be proved, that the guilty mind was not present but rather an accident or something along those lines.
However, law reform has attempted to overturn this as a partial defence (and may have already) as they have stated that voluntary intoxication is similiar to recklessness.

hope that helps in some way

 

[Teoh]

not really...now i'm totally confused...hahaha but thanks anyway...

 

[mcjaffa]

Yeah well I wouldn't sweat the small stuff; it's just a minor detail (now I've said that it's bound to backfire!); i'm more worried bout the bigger picture!!!