Content aspects of the criminal-legal category of «limited sanity»

The article analyzes mental disorders that do not exclude sanity from the point of view of the influence on the content of guilt. It is demonstrated that mental disorders such as psychosis, neurosis, depression, and others have a significant impact on the cognitive (intellectual and volitional) characteristics of a person. This corresponds to limited sanity, which suggests that some mental disorders do not exclude criminal liability, but require the court to investigate their impact on the mechanism of commission of a crime. It reveals different points of view and the essence of mental anomalies in the context of their impact on criminal behavior. It is proposed to differentiate mental abnormalities according to a number of criteria, such as the etiology of disorders, clinical signs, the severity of mental disorders and the duration of the disorder. The methodological basis of the research consists of general scientific methods: analysis and synthesis, as well as such private scientific methods as system analysis, formal legal, logical. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by a comprehensive approach to the study of mental anomalies in the criminal law context in order to achieve the goals of justice and humanity in sentencing. It is emphasized that different types of mental anomalies, such as psychoses, neuroses, and other disorders, have different mechanisms for distorting individuals' cognitive abilities, including the ability to recognize and direct their actions. As a result, bringing persons with similar mental disorders to criminal responsibility should have its own specifics, including the use of compulsory medical measures. It is concluded that in order to take into account the influence of a mental anomaly on a person's guilt, it is necessary to focus on the extent to which the disorder influenced his decision to commit a crime, and to what extent the act is due to his characteristic social attitudes.