True: The Common Law is often used in the English-speaking world. It is made by judges. It is often based on case law. Common Law has no function if there is applicable statutory law.

False: Testamentary capacity is the capacity to make a valid will, i.e. the person is able to understand the nature of the document, the extent of the property to be disposed of and the claims of other people upon it. One can suffer from dementia and yet retain testamentary capacity. The criteria are legal and not medical. When making an assessment, the person’s memory and orientation as well as psychiatric symptoms like hallucinations, delusions and abnormality of mood should be noted (Gunn & Taylor 1993, p. 109).

False: Mental health legislation does not define the term ‘mental illness’. It is a matter for clinical judgement. In practice, psychiatrists use this term to cover a wide range of psychiatric disorders.

True: Perinatal insult can lead to minimal brain damage which may increase the risk of impulsive and aggressive behaviour later on in life (Stone et al 2000, p. 265).

False: No opinion on the guilt of the accused should be voiced. That is entirely a matter for the court. However, the report can state the intention of the defendant regarding what plea he/she wishes to enter.

False: Psychiatric damage is often referred to by lawyers as ‘nervous shock’. Lord Bridge suggested three criteria for nervous shock:

False: Despite the large number of recorded crimes and the high prevalence of mental illness in the defendants, the number of cases found unfit to plead and given a restriction order is less than 50 per year (Chiswick & Cope 1995, p. 110; Johnstone et al 2004, p. 718).

True: Young people aged below 17 are commonly known as juveniles, as stated by the Home Office in The Sentence of the Court (HMSO 1986, Ch. 11). The conviction rates for juvenile offenders continue to rise. The peak age for offending is between 14 and 17 years. Thus, to qualify for the label of juvenile, most convictions will be those between 15 and 16 years (Chick & Cantwell 1994, p. 14).

False: Subject is found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI). This results in acquittal (Stone et al 2000, p. 61).

True: The court appearance itself seems to have a deterrent effect (Gunn & Taylor 1993, p. 547; Stone et al 2000, p. 215).

False: Despite significant numbers of offenders with learning disabilities, evidence regarding treatment and its outcome is limited. For sex offenders with learning disabilities, group cognitive behavioural treatments have shown some benefit though most studies were small scale. Moreover, the Prison Sex Offender Treatment Programme tends to exclude people with an IQ of less than 80 (Barron et al 2002; Stone et al 2000, p. 229).

True: The capacity to interpret the world will provide some indication of the capacity for self-regulation, which is important to assess in sex offenders with learning disabilities (Bluglass & Bowden 1990, p. 414).

False: Most people with learning disabilities who are convicted of offences are young males of similar age range to the general offending population (Bouras 1999, p. 232).

False: Disclosure is most likely to the mother. The next most likely person to hear about it would be a trusted outsider, e.g. a friend, older relative or school teacher. Some studies of incest show that a sister who was not the object of the sexual relationship might be more psychologically damaged by the incest and so the abused woman may be less likely to disclose to her (Bluglass & Bowden 1990, p. 754).

True: There is an association between childhood sexual abuse and adult personality difficulties and alcohol and drug abuse.

False: The greatest factor predicting recidivism in paedophilia is the attraction towards children. Public exposure would only serve to drive paedophiles underground and away from help-seeking behaviour.

False: Women initiate violence in only about 10% of cases. However, the overall incidence of wife-battering and husband-battering is similar. The frequency of aggression classified as homicide, battery, assault with a weapon or rape is greater among males (Sadock & Sadock 2002, p. 151).

False: Recidivism rates are low in arson. There is no known association between epilepsy and arson (Stone et al 2000, p. 108).

False: Insurance fraud is a far commoner reason than sexual excitement for committing arson (Gelder et al 2000, p. 2057; Stone et al 2000, p. 107).

False: Arson is a notoriously difficult offence to detect and to convict. Overall, conviction rates continue to be low (Stone et al 2000, p. 108).

True: The 5 year report of the National Confidential Inquiry was published in December 2006.

Of the 2670 people convicted of homicide in England and Wales during 1999–2003, 806 (30%) had a lifetime mental disorder: a half had not attended psychiatric services; 141 (5%) had schizophrenia (lifetime); 261 (10%) had symptoms of mental illness at the time of the offence; 106 (4%) received a diminished responsibility verdict and 154 (6%) a hospital disposal – both were associated with severe mental illness and symptoms of psychosis. Two-thirds of perpetrators with a history of mental disorder were not acutely ill or under mental health care at the time of the offence.

False: The rates of homicide in patients suffering from epilepsy are the same as the general population (Gelder et al 2000, p. 2047).

False: The sentencing guidelines are the same for infanticide and manslaughter and include no fixed sentence.

False: Up to 3% of patients in maximum security hospitals may have an XYY karyotype. In the 1960s this was considered disproportionately high but it is now known that the prevalence of XYY in the general population is higher than was thought at that time. No direct connection between XYY genotype and either aggressive or criminal behaviour has been established though the slightly lower than average IQ seen in this group may predispose to behavioural problems (Bluglass & Bowden 1990, p. 376; Gelder et al 2000, p. 932; Johnstone et al 2004, p. 548).

False: The prevalence of epilepsy in prisoners is approximately 1% (Fazel et al 2002).