Insanity & Non-Insane Automatism - An Introduction to Sleepwalking & the Criminal Law

Introduction

This virtual classroom seminar will cover the unusual area of sleepwalking and its relevance to criminal law.

The session will cover key caselaw and issues involved including:

• How can it be proven someone truly was sleepwalking at the time of committing the offence?
• How to defend a case that does not seem to fit neatly into the ‘normal’ defences in criminal law.

As sleepwalking has been treated as both insanity and non-insane automatism, the session will also cover which approach is correct as well as the different jurisdictional approaches to sleepwalking in criminal cases.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• Common misconceptions, e.g. people act out in dreams
• Key case law
• The need for an expert witness
• Key factors that indicate whether a person is sleepwalking
• Trigger factors for sleepwalking - was the accused subjected to these factors?
• Defences in criminal law
• Insanity or non-insane automatism
• Comparison of approaches in differing jurisdictions

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.