ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the treatment of the severely intoxicated and mentally abnormal killer in the context of the partial defences to murder. It focuses on extant law prior to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 legislative reforms, and reflects on the novel classificatory system adopted therein as applied to this discrete category of offenders. A radically different perspective, enervating current discussion, applies to the 'subjectivised provocation plea' within Model Penal Code (MPC) jurisdictions, identified herein as 'reform' states. This formulation is broadly derived from the MPC provocation proposal which requires the jury to determine whether the defendant killed 'under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is reasonable explanation or excuse'. A controversial aspect of the old law, subject to two detailed Law Commission Reports, and a potpourri of conflicting authorities, focused on which of the defendant's personal characteristics could be attributed to the reasonable person as part of the objective of the prevailing dual standard.
