Insanity - national proceedings

Croatia

Croatia - Criminal Code 1997 (2008) EN

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

GENERAL PART

CHAPTER FOUR (iv) CULPABILITY

Mental Incapacity

Article 40

(1) A mentally incapable person shall not be culpable and no criminal sanction shall be imposed on such a person. A mentally incapable person may be placed in a psychiatric institution in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Mentally Disturbed Persons.

(2) A mentally incapable person is one who at the time of the perpetration of an illegal act was incapable of understanding the significance of his conduct, or cannot control his will due to mental illness, temporary mental disorder, mental deficiency or some other severe mental disturbance.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

GENERAL PART

CHAPTER FOUR (iv) CULPABILITY

Article 42

The punishment of a perpetrator may be mitigated if at the time of the perpetration of a criminal offense, due to a condition referred to in Article 40, paragraph 2 of this Code, the perpetrator was of substantially diminished mental capacity, provided that the mental deficiency was not voluntarily produced.

Rome Statute

Article 31 Grounds for excluding criminal responsibility

1. In addition to other grounds for excluding criminal responsibility provided for in this Statute, a person shall not be criminally responsible if, at the time of that person's conduct:

(a) The person suffers from a mental disease or defect that destroys that person's capacity to appreciate the unlawfulness or nature of his or her conduct, or capacity to control his or her conduct to conform to the requirements of law;

(b) The person is in a state of intoxication that destroys that person's capacity to appreciate the unlawfulness or nature of his or her conduct, or capacity to control his or her conduct to conform to the requirements of law, unless the person has become voluntarily intoxicated under such circumstances that the person knew, or disregarded the risk, that, as a result of the intoxication, he or she was likely to engage in conduct constituting a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;

(c) The person acts reasonably to defend himself or herself or another person or, in the case of war crimes, property which is essential for the survival of the person or another person or property which is essential for accomplishing a military mission, against an imminent and unlawful use of force in a manner proportionate to the degree of danger to the person or the other person or property protected. The fact that the person was involved in a defensive operation conducted by forces shall not in itself constitute a ground for excluding criminal responsibility under this subparagraph;

(d) The conduct which is alleged to constitute a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court has been caused by duress resulting from a threat of imminent death or of continuing or imminent serious bodily harm against that person or another person, and the person acts necessarily and reasonably to avoid this threat, provided that the person does not intend to cause a greater harm than the one sought to be avoided. Such a threat may either be:

(i) Made by other persons; or

(ii) Constituted by other circumstances beyond that person's control.