Faking a mental illness to escape prison

Posted on July 11, 2018

A new law in the Assembly Bill 1810 was passed, and this allows those who commit any sorts of crime to evade serving prison time if they are diagnosed with a mental disorder during trial. The defendant will then be assessed and receive counselling, and if a mental disorder is confirmed, his crime record would be cleared. The only condition in this bill is that the diversion from prison has to be less than 2 years and this allows criminals who commit severe crimes such as mass murders to still be imprisoned if their treatment exceeds 2 years.

However, this bill does not distinguish between crimes, and it is still possible for a murderer to not be deemed guilty if he is found to have a mental disorder.

The recognised mental disorders in the court are: male hypoactive desire sexual disorder, sexual sadism, voyeurism, pyromania, oppositional defiant disorder, and kleptomania.

Even though there are some genuine cases, increasing number of criminals have been faking a mental illness to evade prison, which is an area of concern today.


Category(s):Mental Health in Asia

Source material from The Orange Country Register