Principle or Process at the End of Life?

Huxtable, Richard

doi:10.1080/21507740.2016.1150910

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

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“…In this way, it 'pathologises' mercy killers, 158 failing to capture the 'lived reality' of their circumstances. 159 Accordingly, where mercy killers continue to use diminished responsibility as a pragmatic route to a manslaughter verdict, they face the ongoing risk of being over-stigmatised by society. The population might form blaming judgments about a mercy killer's reasons for killing (based on a defendant's supposed mental illness), even though these judgments are misplaced.…”

Section: Mercy Killers: Challenges To Fair Labellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pragmatism Preserved? The Challenges of Accommodating Mercy Killers in the Reformed Diminished Responsibility Plea

Gibson

2017

The Journal of Criminal Law

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This article examines the operation of the reformed English diminished responsibility plea in mercy killer cases. In particular, it makes three claims. First, it predicts that—like its predecessor—the revised doctrine will be stretched, where necessary, to accommodate these offenders. This is because (i) normative arguments remain for convicting them of manslaughter instead of murder and (ii) other partial defence routes will usually be unavailable. Secondly, it contends that such pragmatism will now be facilitated by a disconnect between (i) the defence’s post-reform narrowing and (ii) its ongoing interpretive flexibility. Thirdly, given that disconnect, it suggests that this pragmatism will be problematic. Notably, it will (i) compromise the plea’s newfound coherence and (ii) exacerbate unfair labelling of mercy killers. Ultimately, and more broadly, these difficulties reinforce recent calls for further homicide law reform.

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Section: Mercy Killers: Challenges To Fair Labellingmentioning

confidence: 99%