Hit and runs Cardiff

[ASC1951]

It is an annoyance of mine when people use mental issues in an attempt to gain the sympathy of the courts when they have no right to do so.

It isn't often successful, except when defendants are genuinely ill - courts look at these claims very sceptically, even after expert assessment. And as the law now stands, someone who commits a serious crime while mentally ill is likely to be detained indefinitely i.e. effectively the same punishment as if he was a 'sane' murderer.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

 

[sheddy]

Probably the wrong place to bring this up, but did anyone notice how the media (including the BBC) on Friday described this as a hit and run accident.

 

[ttcycle]

It isn't often successful, except when defendants are genuinely ill - courts look at these claims very sceptically, even after expert assessment. And as the law now stands, someone who commits a serious crime while mentally ill is likely to be detained indefinitely i.e. effectively the same punishment as if he was a 'sane' murderer.

I used to work in a secure unit that was for those that were mentally unwell and had at some point come into contact with the criminal justice system - it's not an easy ride in one of those places and it is extremely hard to just plead insanity. Daily hoop jumping and having your life planned out for you by someone else usually your Psychiatrist- I worked with someone who had committed arson- no deaths- 14 years still in the unit so his sentence if he was jailed would have been shorter.

I cannot even begin to think what was going on in this situation in Cardiff. It beggars belief.

 

[Milo]

Charged with murder and attempted murder. Also dangerous driving.

 

[on the road]

My apologies, I seem to have misinterpreted the line "Would not be surprised if the voices told him to do it or some bull."

The problem with some people who kill is that they try to make out they have a mental illness when they don't in the hope of getting a lesser sentence. It's true that some people who kill do have a mental illness but some try to play the system.