Dangerosité psychiatrique et responsabilité pénale atténuée : à propos de la condamnation à la réclusion à perpétuité d’un schizophrène auteur d’un homicide sexuel sadique

Abstract

The second paragraph of article 122-1 of the French Criminal Code provides for a reduced penalty in criminal matters (Court of Assizes) when the offender is suffering at the time the act is committed from a mental disorder that reduces his liability. This legal provision is not always respected, as shown by the sentencing to life imprisonment of a chronic psychotic patient who committed a sexual homicide (sadistic rape). The Court of Assizes found that the great dangerousness of this schizophrenic, with a multiple criminal record and who had refused his treatment, justified his conviction, while the psychiatric expertise concluded that he should benefit from a reduction on his criminal liability. The sentence was passed without the level of severity of his mental state having been verified by a new expert. The author therefore questions the “ethical” nature of this court decision which, albeit legal, is contrary to the spirit of the law. There was no appeal against the sentence.