This article reviews the legal frameworks of diminished criminal responsibility in eighteen civil law jurisdictions across the globe-Brazil, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey. Specifically, it reports the legal standards and main features of partial responsibility, associated penalty reductions, and potential dispositions following a partial responsibility finding. It also surveys empirical data on the prevalence of diminished responsibility as compared to criminal nonresponsibility. This article, which reflects contemporary penal codes and draws from both English and non-English sources, is the only known existing source to compile these partial responsibility standards or to delineate their precise sentencing consequences. It is also the only known source in English to describe Portugal\'s and Chile\'s treatment of diminished responsibility. Providing a comparative overview of graduated responsibility in nearly twenty countries invites global discussion on whether and how society should recognize partial responsibility, as well as the punitive and therapeutic consequences that should attend this finding.

The topic of self-induced intoxication causing automatism is a complex legal question that straddles the border of psychiatry, the law, and social policy. It has been argued that women and children are predominantly positioned as victims of sexual and domestic violence, in which substances often play a part. This consideration sensitizes society to any legal measures that may potentially excuse, mitigate, or absolve perpetrators. The legal systems in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom have dealt with these situations as best as they can, sometimes inconsistently and sometimes coming into conflict with the public discourse and subsequent legislation. This article presents a comparison of case law and legislation among these three countries. We review the concept of automatism and self-induced intoxication leading to automatism, and we show how the courts have dealt with this subject.

Parent-child incest is a traumatic event that causes long-term psychological consequences for victims. Although paternal incest is the most common form, it is known that mothers can also sexually abuse their children. Mother-daughter incest is a type of abuse that is thought to be rare. This article discusses a case of a mother who abused one of her 4-year-old twin daughters for masturbation and used them in a sexual fantasy with her partner. She was sent to the forensic psychiatric observation unit by the court to determine her criminal responsibility. In the literature on mother-daughter incest, the abuser\'s childhood traumas, early marriage, low self-esteem, and sense of worthlessness are frequently seen. Our case, who did not have a history of psychiatric illness, was referred to us with suspicion of mental illness simply because she abused her daughters. Researchers have found out that in most cases, contrary to common expectations, mothers did not have a severe mental illness. A gender-based approach to incest cases may contribute to the cycle of the abuse continue, and it makes it difficult for victims to speak up and seek help. More studies focused on perpetrators will expand our perception of mother-daughter incest.

Identify factors related to bias in forensic psychiatric assessments in criminal matters.
Based on the PRISMA guidelines, we searched the following keywords with Boolean operators: (criminal responsibility OR legal responsibility OR neurolaw OR insanity defense) AND (forensic psychiatry OR assessment OR evaluation OR bias OR decision-making OR capacity OR psychometric). The search included publications from January 1998 to December 2019 in the English language, published in PubMed, Web of Science, Taylor & Francis, and Scopus databases.
The final sample consisted of 30 articles separated into three groups: (1) legal elements and the wording of expert reports, (2) psychometric tools applied to criminal inquiries, and (3) expert forensic technique and inter-examiner agreement.
Multiple factors for biases were identified: difficulties in equivalence between legal and psychiatric terminologies, elements of countertransference between the expert and the examinee, absence of standardization of expert evaluations, low quality of expert reports, differences in the training of professionals involved in the evaluations, use of psychometric tools, number of professionals working on the same case, and the methodology adopted. Psychometric tools developed specifically for forensic psychiatric evaluations allowed the introduction of objective parameters in expert evaluations. Special attention was found in psychometric tools structured as vignettes that allowed the detailed evaluation of legal capacities, present in the legal texts. Psychometric tools in checklist format appeared to be more susceptible to interviewer biases.
The control of inherent biases in forensic psychiatry assessments on criminal matters remains a current challenge, difficult to control in forensic practice. The identification, control and avoidance of them may improve the quality the forensic psychiatric expertise in criminal matters.

Mentally ill offenders have a right to a fair trial and adequate treatment in terms of the law. The diversion of mentally ill offenders between the criminal justice and the mental health care systems is linked to the forensic psychiatric assessment and based on two psycho-legal constructs, fitness to stand trial (FTST) and criminal responsibility (CR). Forensic psychiatric assessment is therefore an important element in criminal law and plays a major role in the court\'s decisions regarding the sentence, detention, placement, or treatment of mentally ill offenders. The legislation aims to ensure balancing the rights of mentally ill offenders to psychiatric care and society\'s safety. A narrative overview of the literature summarizing the findings on legislation regulating FTST and CR assessment and their practice in different areas of the world was conducted. It offers insight into the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches and examines the way court proceedings function in these different geographical and psychosocial-legal contexts. This may have policy implications for individual systems and allow countries to consider feasible mechanisms to refine the relevant legislation to improve their practices in forensic psychiatric assessments. Worldwide, relevant legislation is considered as essential in protecting mentally ill offender\'s right; it has been established for many years regarding specifying the procedures and responsibilities for the mental health care and criminal justice systems. Despite similarities in the principles of the psycho-legal constructs in different countries, there are differences in the way legislations are implemented, often depending on the available resources.

We reported a case of sexual assault in a 60-year-old male with no history of mental illness. The lack of memory about the time of the assault and the patient\'s uncharacteristic behaviour suggested sexual deviant behaviour secondary to a brain lesion. Further investigations revealed a lentiform stroke. A possibility of abnormal sexual behaviour due to an epileptic seizure and/or a destructive brain lesion is suggested. We summarized the history of our patient in this paper and provided a review of the medico-legal aspects of hypersexuality and sexual deviant behaviors due to brain disorders.

Pseudologia fantastica, a psychological phenomenon that has been described in the literature for at least a century, is an understudied and poorly understood entity. Sometimes referred to as pathological lying, pseudologia fantastica involves disproportionate fabrication that may be present for many years or a lifetime. In a forensic context, it can significantly complicate the evaluation of capacity to stand trial and, in certain jurisdictions, criminal responsibility. We review the current literature regarding pseudologia fantastica and present a case to highlight the clinical and forensic challenges it may create. We specifically discuss the complications that pseudologia fantastica may have on the assessment of a defendant\'s rational ability to consult with an attorney, a required element of capacity to stand trial. In addition, we discuss the implications of pseudologia fantastica in the evaluation of criminal responsibility.

Reforms of the criminal justice system in China in recent years have included the 2012 Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP), which resulted in new disposals for mentally disordered offenders. From a Western perspective, changes in Chinese criminal law are sometimes clichéd as toothless window dressing, but they may represent a genuine step forward in safeguarding human rights. Taking a historical perspective, this paper reveals that in the East, as much as in the West, there is a \'moral tradition\' of not punishing mentally disordered offenders who are not considered responsible for their acts. There are clear differences in disposal for those acquitted having been found \'not guilty by reason of insanity\'. Whereas Western jurisdictions have offered (criminal) courts the opportunity for commitment in (forensic) mental hospitals from the early 19th Century, in China, disposal has remained, until the recent changes, the responsibility of the administration (mainly the police) or the family of the offender. A few high profile cases brought to light the inadequacy of these arrangements and the general disregard of obvious mental health issues when sentencing offenders. There was lack of clarity regarding who would take responsibility for treatment and issues of future public protection arising from a mental disorder. The 2012 CCP introduces the power of mental health commitment by the judiciary for those found non-responsible for an offense because of a mental disorder. Similar to provisions in Western jurisdictions there remain human rights concerns regarding aspects of 2012 CCP and the role of \'preventive detention\' for mentally disordered offenders on indeterminate secure mental health detention. Nevertheless, the shift to judicial decision making in such cases and the possibility of mental health commitment are welcome steps in improving the human rights of this vulnerable population.