NATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK CONCERNING DEFENDANTS AND PERSONS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY WITH INTELLECTUAL AND/OR PSYCHOSOCIAL DISABILITIES IN LAW AND PRACTICE 41 The criminal incapacity is associated with a mental health condition of a person who has committed acts dangerous to society. However, not every mental health condition or psychiatric diagnosis may be the basis to find someone not criminally responsible. According to the legal doctrine, only a person who is unable to perceive and control their actions due to a serious mental health condition might be found not criminally responsible. In other cases, where the mental health condition does not impair the person's ability to comprehend the dangerous nature of the act, they shall be held criminally responsible.41 As abovementioned, the criminal legal incapacity or reduced capacity is assessed at the time of the commission of the offence. However, the issue of the fitness to stand trial , i.e., the exercise of individual rights and legitimate interests in the course of the legal proceedings, such as the exercise of the right to participate in the criminal proceeding, the rights of a defence. In contrast to the assessment of criminal legal incapacity, where experts must assess the specifics of a person's mental health state at the moment of the criminal offence, in determining fitness to stand trial, a person's mental state is assessed not only in the present moment but also in the past and is foreseen in a certain future perspective.42 The right to a defence is not exercised independently by persons found to have limited criminal capacity Abramavičius A., et al. (2011) Criminal Law. General Part, p. 186. Radavičius L.E. Teisės psichiatrija: istorija ir dabartis. Vilnius: Mykolo Romerio universitetas, 2004. 67-68 p. 41 42

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents