Drunk and Delirious Defences: Intoxication and Insanity in the Criminal Code (WA)

In State of Western Australia v Herbert [2017] WASC 101, the question whether s 28(2) of the Criminal Code (WA) (‘Code’) disentitles a concurrently insane and intoxicated accused from availing himself of the insanity defence arose for the first time in this jurisdiction. Critically, the current int...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mullins, Gemma
Format: Student Work
Published: Curtin University 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/57626
_version_ 1848760185143689216
author Mullins, Gemma
author_facet Mullins, Gemma
author_sort Mullins, Gemma
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In State of Western Australia v Herbert [2017] WASC 101, the question whether s 28(2) of the Criminal Code (WA) (‘Code’) disentitles a concurrently insane and intoxicated accused from availing himself of the insanity defence arose for the first time in this jurisdiction. Critically, the current interpretation of the interaction between the insanity and intoxication defences in ss 27-28 of the Code disentitles an intoxicated accused from availing himself of the insanity defence irrespective of whether his intoxication had any connection to his loss of capacity. This thesis analyses the interaction between the insanity and intoxication defences and suggests how those sections should be interpreted and operate. To that end, it seeks to address how the law should respond to cases such as Herbert where there is an operative mental impairment in circumstances where the accused is also intoxicated, in particular, in circumstances where intoxication is not necessarily connected to a loss of capacity.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T10:11:45Z
format Student Work
id curtin-20.500.11937-57626
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:11:45Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Curtin University
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-576262022-04-20T02:12:37Z Drunk and Delirious Defences: Intoxication and Insanity in the Criminal Code (WA) Mullins, Gemma In State of Western Australia v Herbert [2017] WASC 101, the question whether s 28(2) of the Criminal Code (WA) (‘Code’) disentitles a concurrently insane and intoxicated accused from availing himself of the insanity defence arose for the first time in this jurisdiction. Critically, the current interpretation of the interaction between the insanity and intoxication defences in ss 27-28 of the Code disentitles an intoxicated accused from availing himself of the insanity defence irrespective of whether his intoxication had any connection to his loss of capacity. This thesis analyses the interaction between the insanity and intoxication defences and suggests how those sections should be interpreted and operate. To that end, it seeks to address how the law should respond to cases such as Herbert where there is an operative mental impairment in circumstances where the accused is also intoxicated, in particular, in circumstances where intoxication is not necessarily connected to a loss of capacity. 2017 Student Work http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/57626 10.4225/06/59758fe8d0b8d Curtin University fulltext
spellingShingle Mullins, Gemma
Drunk and Delirious Defences: Intoxication and Insanity in the Criminal Code (WA)
title Drunk and Delirious Defences: Intoxication and Insanity in the Criminal Code (WA)
title_full Drunk and Delirious Defences: Intoxication and Insanity in the Criminal Code (WA)
title_fullStr Drunk and Delirious Defences: Intoxication and Insanity in the Criminal Code (WA)
title_full_unstemmed Drunk and Delirious Defences: Intoxication and Insanity in the Criminal Code (WA)
title_short Drunk and Delirious Defences: Intoxication and Insanity in the Criminal Code (WA)
title_sort drunk and delirious defences: intoxication and insanity in the criminal code (wa)
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/57626