title: Reports of medical experts in cases of drug addiction and assessment of mitigating circumstances by the court.
abstract: In Spain, as the law stands, an accused person wishing to cite drug addiction as a mitigating circumstance in sentencing must demonstrate this addiction. Expert evidence therefore acquires great importance for an eventual sentence. The aim of this study is to analyse the sentencing process in cases in which the relevance of drug addiction as a mitigating circumstance in criminal responsibility is sought. Of a total of 261 sentences handed down in the Criminal Court of Murcia, we studied 139 sentences that cited drug addiction as one of the mitigating circumstances in criminal responsibility. A forensic report was presented in only 36 cases (25.9%) and in most of these cases (61.1%) the individual's drug addiction was assumed from observing signs of recent venous punctures. There were no objective data (blood and urine analysis) in 128 cases (92.1%). However, mitigating circumstances as regards criminal responsibility were considered and accepted by the Court in 130 cases (93.4%). We should emphasise the limited, not to say total absence of, clinical data in the submitted reports, which implies the impossibility of scientifically testing the disputed circumstances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Argente
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Pérez-Cárceles
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Lucerga
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luna
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Osuna
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003415:Crime / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005104:Expert Testimony; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013030:Spain; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders