สรุป
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 made significant reforms to homicide law, the coroner system, sentencing, and witness protection. It replaced the partial defences of provocation and diminished responsibility with reformed versions: loss of control and updated diminished responsibility. The Act also reformed the coroner service and created new sentencing provisions.
ประเด็นสำคัญ
- Loss of control (s.54–56) — Replaced provocation as a partial defence to murder. Requires loss of self-control, a qualifying trigger (fear of violence or circumstances of an extremely grave character giving a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged), and that a person of the same sex and age with a normal degree of tolerance might have reacted in the same way
- Diminished responsibility reformed (s.52) — Amended s.2 of the Homicide Act 1957 to require an 'abnormality of mental functioning' arising from a recognised medical condition
- Coroner reform — Established the Chief Coroner and modernised the coroner service
- Sentencing guidelines — Created the Sentencing Council for England and Wales
- Witness anonymity — Provided statutory framework for witness anonymity orders