The responsable convicted person affected by a serious mental disorder

Abstract

The Spanish Penal Code has adopted a mixed biological-psychological system to assess imputability in the case of mental disorders and anomalies. This paper analyzes how jurisprudence implements this system in cases of serious mental disorders, focusing especially on paranoid schizophrenia. The rigidity of the criteria used may be determining a gradual increase in people who, even suffering from serious mental disorders, are interned in Ordinary Penitentiary Centers, with the consequent distortions of the system and the perverse effects that this entails can.