The insane offender in Maltese Criminal Law

Abstract

WE need not go very far back in Maltese history to trace the origin of the present statutory measures with regard to the relation of mental derangement to offences against the law of the land and to study the progressive steps by which they have advanced. Indeed it was only during the last century that express legal provisions on the subject were enacted. This is not to be wondered at if it is borne in mind that previous to the nineteenth century the conception of mental disorder was still vague, with the consequence that instances of mental illness were often mistaken for wilful wickedness and perversion. It is also to be remembered that even if the law had made allowances for the insane offender, the treatment he would have received as a patient would not have been much different from that meted out to the sane criminal, except, perhaps, in cases where the death penalty was involved.