Positive and comparative aspects of insanity

Abstract

The tenth revision of the ICD-10 defines mental disorder as “a clinical determined group of symptoms of behavioral characteristics, which in most cases create suffering and avert the functioning of personality”. According to the criminal legislation of most countries, insanity is characterized by two criteria: biological (medical) and psychological (legal). Biological criterion indicates the presence of the disordered state of psyche, while psychological criterion implies the person’s absence of the ability to grasp the significance of his actions (intellectual element) or to control them (voluntary element). Differences in creating the institute of insanity in European legislations are mainly confined to the area of legal technique. First of all, it refers to the use of different categories of psychological states in describing the biological criterion of insanity. On the other hand, in Anglo-American system of criminal law, institute of insanity has certain specificity, since the biological criterion includes various forms of psychopathology. The definition of insanity in the Model Penal Code to great extent corresponds to the modern level of development of criminal law and psychiatry in the United States.