ADJUS-121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Diminished Capacity, Mens Rea, Substance Abuse

• School: Diablo Valley College
• Department: Administration Of Justice
• Course: ADJUS-121
• Professor: ortega

Document Summary

Allows an actor"s abnormal mental condition (short of insanity) to exonerate him or result in a conviction of a lesser degree. Clark v. arizona shot cop in traffic stop. Held: the due process clause allows a state to avoid a second avenue for exploring capacity, less stringent for the defendant, by confining the consideration of evidence of mental disease and capacity to the insanity defense. Observation evidence can be from lay person. Mental disease evidence only from expert. Jury can avoid death sentence for mentally impaired murderer. Jury can make more nuanced judgments about culpability. Avoids anomaly of allowing voluntary intoxication to negate specific intent but not mental impairment. 2. 3 million arrests of persons under 18 in the u. s. 1. 9 million of juveniles arrested had substance abuse and addiction involvement. Nevertheless, only 68,600 juveniles received substance abuse treatment. More than 1 in 4 persons in the general population are under age 18.