Criminal Liability of People with Mental Disorders: Health Law Perspective

Abstract

Criminal liability is a mechanism to determine whether or not a suspect may be held responsible for an action. Mental disorders are conditions that prevent someone from having the ability to take responsibility for their actions. The Indonesian Criminal Codes I and II provide a guide on the criminal liability of people with mental disorders. This is normative legal research with a focal point on inventorying written positive laws under legal principles and doctrines to discover the law in a case. The result shows that the judge has full authority to sentence offenders with mental disorders. Otherwise, they have to consider the facts at the trial and ask expert witnesses. We argue that imposing the sanction for perpetrators with mental disorders is not in line with Lex Neminem Cogit Ad Impossibilia, which is embedded in the Indonesian criminal code. Moreover, the judge needs to involve the psychiatrists to manage the suspect with a mental disorder in their decision.