The court set out the various options for sentencing in cases of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. Though a hospital order may be appropriate if recommended by a psychiatric report and justified, where the defendant constituted a danger to the public for an unpredictable time, the right sentence would probably be life imprisonment. If the defendant’s responsibility for his acts was so grossly impaired that his degree of responsibility was minimal, then a lenient course would be open, but the length of any determinate sentence depended on the judge’s assessment of the degree of the defendant’s responsibility and his assessment of the time for which the accused would continue to represent a danger to the public.
[1983] CAR (S) 190
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Wood, Regina v (No 2) CACD 2-Apr-2009
The defendant appealed against his sentence to life imprisonment after conviction for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Held: The court faced two questions. Did the case require a sentence of life imprisonment, and also . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 03 August 2021; Ref: scu.331090