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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Determination of Criminal Insanity in Western Nigeria |
Author: | Bienen, Leigh |
Year: | 1976 |
Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
Volume: | 14 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | June |
Pages: | 219-245 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | criminal procedure mental disorders Law, Human Rights and Violence Health and Nutrition |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/160058 |
Abstract: | Subject of investigation is the question of insanity or competence to stand trial in criminal cases before the Western Nigerian judiciary. This article grew out of a more detailed study of all tried cases of homicide in Western Nigeria from 1966 to 1972. An inordinately large number of accused with symptoms which westerners associate with mental or emotional illness appeared before the court with judges being forced to apply an awkward, and at best difficult, standard for the determination of criminal insanity with sparse direct evidence and, in many cases without the help of expert testimony. The procedures surrounding the presentation of the defence of insanity, the calling for an examination by a psychiatrist, the submission of expert testimony, are the same in Western Nigeria as in most American jurisdictions, although there are significant differences in the manner in which law and rules of procedures are applied, the use and exclusion of evidence, and particularly the treatment of expert psychiatric evidence. Ref., appendices: Research method and statistics - Selected cases. |