The effects of drug use on criminal liability

Abstract

In the present material we aim to analyse the extent to which the commission of a crime following the consumption of drugs can lead to a reduction or even exoneration of criminal liability. The focus of the analysis will be on whether it is possible to establish the causes of non-liability for irresponsibility and intoxication following both long term and one time consumption of drugs and also on the limitations of the applicability of the principle of actio libera in causa in such situations. With regard to the medical consequences of drugs on the human body, the debate will be conducted from both a medicine and legal perspective, particularly psychiatric, and a judicial perspective. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the subject, the method in which this issue is dealt with in German and Spanish criminal law will also be examined.