“A Judicial Conundrum: The Mentally Ill Who Have Killed”

司法之困：那些犯下命案的精神病人

Southern Weekend, 2009-06-04

An investigative article explores the fate of the violently mentally ill in China's criminal justice system. Forensic psychiatrics too often succumb to public pressure calling for “a life for a life” and determine mentally ill suspects to have partial or diminished criminal responsibility, both of which qualify them for criminal punishments, including death. Doctors even admit to an unspoken rule: if the victim is related to the suspect, they can be declared criminally incompetent, if not, they are declared to have diminished criminal responsibility. Suspects typically undergo multiple psychiatric evaluations, each with varying determinations, leaving the court—subject to the same public pressure—to chose one that fits their judgment. The mentally ill are thus incarcerated with the general prison population and receive only limited, if any, psychiatric medical care, leaving themselves and their fellow inmates subject to continued dangers.