Related Experiment Videos
[Automatism and the law in Norway 1981-2000]
Pål Hartvig1, Randi Rosenqvist, Hans Jakob Stang
1Kompetansesenter for sikkerhets-, fengsels- og rettspsykiatri for Helseregion Øst og Helseregion Sør, Aker universitetssykehus, 0320 Oslo. paal@hartvig.net
Background:
Automatism in criminal cases is a medical, legal and ethical challenge in most countries, as it often leads to acquittal in criminal cases. In Norway it is also a semantic problem; the term "unconsciousness" is used in criminal law in a meaning that differs from its normal sense of coma.
Material And Methods:
In the years 1981-2000 the conclusion "unconsciousness"/automatism was reached in 42 cases by forensic psychiatrists. We have scored their assessments regarding demographic, social, criminological and psychiatric variables in the felons.
Results:
The main reasons for concluding that automatism was present were: toxic (mainly alcohol) in 64%, psychogenic in 24%, and organic in 12% of the cases. The two most frequent crimes in the sample were manslaughter (29%) and intoxicated driving (21%). In 33% of cases the court did not return an acquittal based on automatism. In 29 % of the cases we disagree with, and in a further 36% we are in doubt about, the conclusions reached by the forensic psychiatrists.
Interpretation:
Many assessments were of insufficient quality; this may give rise to questions regarding equal treatment under criminal law. We propose some changes that are called for to Norwegian legislation and practice in the field.