Understanding The Legality And Concepts Of Insanity Under Legal Jurisprudence

Shweta Patel & Inderjeet Kaur

ABSTRACT

In criminal jurisprudence, the liability of wrongdoer can be determined on the basis of the capability and state of mind. It is submitted that no person shall be convicted until he is proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. In another word ‘an accused is presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty. Here, researcher endeavors to state that a healthy mind is involved in crime if he can understand the consequences of his act. In case questioned person is mature enough and has ability to differentiate between rights or wrong he must be booked in the eyes of the law. In criminal jurisprudence, it becomes very difficult to trace the intention from the face of the accused; as it requires satisfying the ingredient of crime i.e., ‘Actus non facitreum nisi mens sit rea’18, injury act of doing, etc. However, question arises when a person with an unhealthy mind commits crime, which indicates presence of ‘actus reus’ but framing ‘mens rea’ will be difficult due to his disordered mind.

Psychology is a subject of scientific study of human behaviour in any context. It is a science of experience and behaviour, which tells us how the mind processes the experiences in daily life, and how mind works and responds. This subject can predict the behaviour of a person to some extent, and it helps to control the behavior in a certain manner by putting the individuals under appropriate conditions. It seeks to discover the laws of mind. Behaviour is the expression of inner experiences originating from interaction of an individual with the environment. Psychology also aims at a self-consistent body of knowledge relating to mental processes. Thus, psychology can be considered as a natural science of mental processes and behaviour. Further, it can measure the capacity of an individual’s mind to interact with the environment. One hand, understanding of psychology becomes very important to determine the cause of action of an individual. On the other hand, law is made for supervising human behaviour that can deviate from existing social norms of a particular society. In

this way, both subjects can be interrelated to each other.

Keywords: Legal Jurisprudence, Unsoundness, Insanity, etc.