TY - JOUR T1 - Anomalies of Section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957. JF - Journal of Medical Ethics JO - J Med Ethics SP - 24 LP - 27 DO - 10.1136/jme.12.1.24 VL - 12 IS - 1 AU - A Kenny Y1 - 1986/03/01 UR - http://jme.bmj.com/content/12/1/24.abstract N2 - Section 2 of the 1957 Homicide Act is indefensible: the concept of 'mental responsibility' is a hybrid which turns the psychiatrist witness either into a thirteenth juryman or a spare barrister. But reform does not lie along the lines suggested by the Butler Committee or the Criminal Law Revision Committee. The latter leaves the jury with insufficient guidance; the former returns to the bad eighteenth century policy of treating mental illness not as a factor in determining responsibility but as a status exempting from responsibility. The much criticised McNaughton rules provide a sounder basis for deciding where responsibility should be assigned in criminal cases. ER -