Textual Amendments
F1Ss. 51A, 51B and cross-headings inserted (with application in accordance with art. 3 of the commencing S.S.I.) by Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 13), ss. 168, 206(1); S.S.I. 2012/160, art. 3, sch. (with art. 4)
(1)A person who would otherwise be convicted of murder is instead to be convicted of culpable homicide on grounds of diminished responsibility if the person's ability to determine or control conduct for which the person would otherwise be convicted of murder was, at the time of the conduct, substantially impaired by reason of abnormality of mind.
(2)For the avoidance of doubt, the reference in subsection (1) to abnormality of mind includes mental disorder.
(3)The fact that a person was under the influence of alcohol, drugs or any other substance at the time of the conduct in question does not of itself—
(a)constitute abnormality of mind for the purposes of subsection (1), or
(b)prevent such abnormality from being established for those purposes.
(4)It is for the person charged with murder to establish, on the balance of probabilities, that the condition set out in subsection (1) is satisfied.
(5)In this section, “conduct” includes acts and omissions.]