Definition
Diminished responsibility refers to mitigating circumstances of a crime that justify a reduced sentence. This form of defense is also referred to as the “partial responsibility doctrine.” Mitigating circumstances are raised in court at the time of sentencing. Thus, diminished responsibility is not solely related to issues regarding intent and is distinct from the diminished capacity defense. For example, this form of defense was utilized in People v. Poddar (1974), which preceded the Tarasoff case, in which the defendant intended to kill his girlfriend, but did so as a result of stress created by American relationships, since Poddar was only familiar with arranged marriages within Indian culture. It is evident, from this example, that the diminished responsibility defense does not argue lesser intent (e.g., diminished capacity defense) and does not argue for insanity. Instead, it argues for circumstantial factors, in this case cultural, being at least partially responsible...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References and Readings
Denney, R. L., & Wynkoop, T. F. (2000). Clinical neuropsychology in the criminal forensic setting. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 15, 804–828.
People v. Poddar, 10 Cal. 3d 750, 518. P 2d 342, III Call Rptr. 910 (1974).
Yates, K. F., & Denney, R. L. (2008). Neuropsychology in the assessment of mental state at the time of the offense. In R. Denney & J. Sullivan (Eds.), Clinical neuropsychology in the criminal forensic setting. New York: Guilford.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Heilbronner, R.L. (2018). Diminished Responsibility. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_967
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_967
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57110-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57111-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences