Criminal responsibility capacity is the ability of a person, when performing a socially dangerous act, to perceive the danger to society for his or her behavior and to control it. If a person commits a socially dangerous act when loss of consciousness or the ability to control the behaviour (mental illness), that person is not subject to penal liability.
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How to handle criminal cases of people with mental illness committing crimes? (Illustration)
Article 21 of the current Criminal Code of Vietnam stipulates: “A person who commits an act that is dangerous to society is suffering from a mental disease or another disease that causes him/her to lose his/her awareness or control of his/her behaviors is exempt from criminal responsibility.”
According to current law of Vietnam, offenders who are from a mental disease or another disease that causes him/her to lose his/her awareness or control of his/her behaviors are exempt from criminal responsibility.
In order to accurately determine whether a person who commits a socially dangerous act has a mental illness, the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code of Vietnam requires this to be one of the cases where it is mandatory to solicit an expert opinion (in Clause 1 of Article 206)
A person has a mental illness, so they lose control, and that person loses control because they have a mental illness. The pathology of the offender must be assessed, identified and concluded by a Forensic Psychiatric Examination Council prescribed by the Criminal Procedure Code to assess, determine and conclude with a written conclusion of the forensic examination. The assessment conclusion is the basis for the procedural authorities to consider their criminal liability.
Therefore, a person who commits a crime is only exempt from penal liability according to the provisions of Article 21 of the Criminal Code when simultaneously satisfying 02 conditions:
- Persons who commit acts dangerous to society infringing on social relationships are protected by the Criminal Law.
- At the time of committing an act that is dangerous to society, that person concludes with a conclusion of a mental forensic examination of the Forensic Psychiatric Council prescribed by the Criminal Procedure Code concluding that they are suffering from a disease that lost the ability to perceive or control one's behavior.
However, according to the current law, mentally ill people who commit crimes, still have the possibility of being prosecuted for criminal liability in case the conclusion of a medical examination panel concludes that they only limited behavioural capacity, not loss.
At the same time, in the spirit of Article 21 of the current Criminal Code of Vietnam, people with mental illness are only exempt from penal liability when they commit acts that are dangerous to society while they are sick. If a person has criminal capacity when committing the crime but loses his/her awareness or control of his/her acts before conviction, according to the forensic examination conclusion or mental forensic examination, the Court may decide to send him/her to a specialized medical facility for mandatory treatment. After the disease is treated, that person might bear criminal responsibility, according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 49 of the 2015 Criminal Code of Vietnam.
In a case where the subject has lost the ability to perceive and control his behavior, it is necessary to comprehensively and carefully consider all the factors that affect the subject's perception and psychology when committing the crime. In order to ensure the investigation, trial and conviction of the right person and the right crime, to avoid the crime of omission, it is necessary to collect evidences and items suspected of being related to the subject's use of alcohol, beer and stimulants; request to ask, take testimonies of witnesses to determine preliminarily whether the subject's identity has a history of neurological disease or any disease, has shown signs of using alcohol, beer or stimulants. At the same time, promptly detect and evaluate abnormal expressions of the subject, the accused and the accused in order to consider sending the subject to a psychiatric assessment to determine the subject's criminal liability capacity. the accused, the accused under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Vietnam.
Bao Ngoc
