Sexsomnia – Excusable or Just Insane?

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Author(s)
Davis, Colleen
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2015
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In a number of recent cases, people charged with sexual offences have raised sexsomnia as a defence. Sexsomnia is a variant of sleepwalking, and the gist of the defence is that the accused’s conduct was involuntary, carried out while in an automatistic state. The law recognises two types of automatism: sane and insane.The former results in a complete acquittal whereas the latter leads to a special verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insanity or mental illness/impairment/disorder. Judges in Canada, England and Australia have relied on tests such as the internal/external and continuing danger tests to determine whether ...
View more >In a number of recent cases, people charged with sexual offences have raised sexsomnia as a defence. Sexsomnia is a variant of sleepwalking, and the gist of the defence is that the accused’s conduct was involuntary, carried out while in an automatistic state. The law recognises two types of automatism: sane and insane.The former results in a complete acquittal whereas the latter leads to a special verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insanity or mental illness/impairment/disorder. Judges in Canada, England and Australia have relied on tests such as the internal/external and continuing danger tests to determine whether automatism is caused by a disease of the mind, and therefore insane. However, these tests are unhelpful in sexsomnia cases and the outcomes have been inconsistent. The recent Canadian Court of Appeal case of R v Luedecke provides a useful model for future sexsomnia cases.
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View more >In a number of recent cases, people charged with sexual offences have raised sexsomnia as a defence. Sexsomnia is a variant of sleepwalking, and the gist of the defence is that the accused’s conduct was involuntary, carried out while in an automatistic state. The law recognises two types of automatism: sane and insane.The former results in a complete acquittal whereas the latter leads to a special verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insanity or mental illness/impairment/disorder. Judges in Canada, England and Australia have relied on tests such as the internal/external and continuing danger tests to determine whether automatism is caused by a disease of the mind, and therefore insane. However, these tests are unhelpful in sexsomnia cases and the outcomes have been inconsistent. The recent Canadian Court of Appeal case of R v Luedecke provides a useful model for future sexsomnia cases.
View less >
Journal Title
Criminal Law Journal
Volume
39
Copyright Statement
© 2015 Thomson Reuters. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Criminal Law and Procedure
Law