| dc.description.abstract | Postpartum Psychosis (PPP) is a disorder in women who give birth while suffering from
extreme agitation, hallucination, confusion, delusion, violence, suicide, and feeling of
persecution. A few women; one in a thousand births, develop this disorder and will
act on their impulses and harm or kill their babies or themselves. The etiology of PPP
is not clearly defined, but many potential etiological factors have been implicated in
developing this disorder among women. The risk factors among the possible factors
are environmental, psychosocial, and biological factors. Women suffering from PPP have
shown severe emotional imbalance, which applies as a criminal defence under criminal law
in foreign jurisdictions. The main purpose of this research is to study the applicability of
PPP as a criminal defence in the Sri Lankan criminal justice system by exploring criminal
laws in foreign jurisdictions such as India, the United Kingdom and the United States
of America. This research is mainly based on the normative method and qualitatively
retrieved internet documentary analysis. This work has identified that the defence of
insanity is applied to PPP by foreign jurisdictions to exonerate the accused from criminal
liability. Presently, within the Sri Lankan Criminal Justice system, PPP is applied as
an exception to murder, to mitigate the punishment but not as a defence. This work
tries to find ways to apply PPP as a criminal defence by applying suitable contemporary
developments in foreign jurisdictions to bring justice to women suffering from PPP in Sri
Lanka. | en_US |
