Alcohol and the Sanity of the Perpetrator of an Offence – Conclusions Based on Research

This study presents the issue of alcohol consumption and its possible effect(s) on an offender’s ability to comprehend the significance of his/her actions or to control his/her behaviour. The legislative provision that allows to justify the full responsibility of the offender being in a state of inebriation in the same unit of a legal text like insanity and significantly restricted sanity (Article 31 of Polish Penal Code) indicates that there is a connection between these states. From a psychopathological standpoint, they are obviously connected by the disrupted functioning of the perpetrator’s mental activities. These disturbances, when the offender is under the influence of alcohol, need not result into his full responsibility and, in some, giving to characterize and statistically present cases, can lead to a reduction or even abolition of the soundness of the perpetrator of the offense. These problems were the stimulus to undertake research work, the results of which are also presented in this paper