Should "mental fitness" block prosecution?

@vivify said
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2023/08/30/sex-abuse-charges-dismissed-for-ex-catholic-cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-as-judge-rules-93-year-old-is-not-fit-for-trial/

A Catholic priest had a trial dismissed regarding sexually abusing a teenager in the 70's because he's now old with dementia.

Is this a valid reason to not pursue criminal charges? Shouldn't justice ...[text shortened]... eone not "mentally fit" to stand trial unjust, even there's reasonable evidence against that person?

No they should still prosecute the case for the victims but a culprits mental state should be taken into account during the sentencing phase if we agree they are essentially two different people.

@earl-of-trumps said
@no1marauder said - "A trial.of someone completely incapable of a meaningful defense would be a farce."


What do you think of the practice of trial in absentia? Several countries do it.

Not much.

@earl-of-trumps said
@no1marauder said - "A trial.of someone completely incapable of a meaningful defense would be a farce."


What do you think of the practice of trial in absentia? Several countries do it.

You must be raging, having to live in a country where mentally ill people are being locked up and sometimes executed on a regular basis,
What is wrong with taking known facts to trial and the defendant being represented. Are we accepting that if a defendant gets a diagnosis his victims get no closure or justice

@kevcvs57 said
You must be raging, having to live in a country where mentally ill people are being locked up and sometimes executed on a regular basis,
What is wrong with taking known facts to trial and the defendant being represented. Are we accepting that if a defendant gets a diagnosis his victims get no closure or justice

Prosecuting one demented priest isn’t going address much less redress the root issue here. The bishops who shielded him for 50 years should be prosecuted as accessories. Sexual abuse is rampant in the clergy and the church hierarchy has done nothing to stop it. What has to happen is plain as day: the church must stop treating it as an internal matter and turn over evidence to civil authorities in a timely manner. This is not peculiar to one country or diocese.

https://apnews.com/article/germany-catholic-church-abuse-cdf56e5af040e8224535b92b5af2bb00

@no1marauder said
This is poor reasoning; even if a defendant decides not to take the stand, he still can assist in his own defense in many ways no one else can.

A trial.of someone completely incapable of a meaningful defense would be a farce.

not for the victims.

@zahlanzi said
not for the victims.

Why bother to have a trial at all? A lynch mob would be quicker and just as satisfying to "victims".

And I use " " because generally until.a fair trial.with adequate due process protections, allegations did not make someone a victim legally speaking.

@no1marauder said
Why bother to have a trial at all? A lynch mob would be quicker and just as satisfying to "victims".

And I use " " because generally until.a fair trial.with adequate due process protections, allegations did not make someone a victim legally speaking.

careful, you're on a slippery slope. Maybe you just wanted to indulge in a bit of exaggeration.

i don't want a lynch mob. i want evidence to be heard, a guilty verdict or not guilty verdict to be passed. Then, if the guilty is deemed insane, he should be committed to a mental hospital if he is unfit to serve a normal sentence.

"And I use " " because generally until.a fair trial.with adequate due process protections"
A trial which you don't want to hold because the accused is unfit to defend themselves.


Just a side note, do you have an issue with people being defended by overworked public defendants who do not have enough time or resources to prepare? It has no bearing on this argument, just want to know if you're consistent. Because that defendant would be even more at risk of not having the possibility of a proper defence.

@zahlanzi said
careful, you're on a slippery slope. Maybe you just wanted to indulge in a bit of exaggeration.

i don't want a lynch mob. i want evidence to be heard, a guilty verdict or not guilty verdict to be passed. Then, if the guilty is deemed insane, he should be committed to a mental hospital if he is unfit to serve a normal sentence.

"And I use " " because generally until.a ...[text shortened]... Because that defendant would be even more at risk of not having the possibility of a proper defence.

You're wrong; even an overworked public defender (many of whom are actually fine lawyers) with a competent defendant is better able to prepare a defense than Perry Mason with a defendant who can't remember a conversation he had a few hours ago, never mind the circumstances regarding an alleged crime that occured almost 50 years ago.

That's right; I don't want a sham "trial" when the defendant is unfit to defend themselves because it violates basic due process.

@kevcvs57 said
You must be raging, having to live in a country where mentally ill people are being locked up and sometimes executed on a regular basis,
What is wrong with taking known facts to trial and the defendant being represented. Are we accepting that if a defendant gets a diagnosis his victims get no closure or justice

What is wrong with taking known facts to trial and the defendant being represented.

That's about what I asked.

@moonbus said
Prosecuting one demented priest isn’t going address much less redress the root issue here. The bishops who shielded him for 50 years should be prosecuted as accessories. Sexual abuse is rampant in the clergy and the church hierarchy has done nothing to stop it. What has to happen is plain as day: the church must stop treating it as an internal matter and turn over evidence to ...[text shortened]... iocese.

https://apnews.com/article/germany-catholic-church-abuse-cdf56e5af040e8224535b92b5af2bb00

I'm in the area of USA where Catholics are at the highest percentage, so I have seen a *lot* of that misery.
My poor mother, a really devout Catholic, was so withdrawn about the church in her later years,
I could just tell, it was killing her. All those "men of God". And ironically, the Catholic church had historically been against gays.

@earl-of-trumps said
I'm in the area of USA where Catholics are at the highest percentage, so I have seen a *lot* of that misery.
My poor mother, a really devout Catholic, was so withdrawn about the church in her later years,
I could just tell, it was killing her. All those "men of God". And ironically, the Catholic church had historically been against gays.

I read another article somewhere, can’t find it now, that the r c in S. America had recruited young men explicitly for the purpose of sexually ’servicing’ gay priests.