Diminished Capacity (Diminished Responsibility)

Diminished capacity or diminished responsibility is a legal term which refers to a below average mental ability which is used as a partial defense in court proceedings. This is based on the premise that individuals with diminished capacity do not have the usual cognitive skills needed in planning and executing a crime; hence, the defendant may be convicted of a less hefty offense.

For instance, a person with an intellectual disability may be sentenced to life imprisonment instead of being given the death penalty.


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Mohammed Looti, PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES (2023) Diminished Capacity (Diminished Responsibility). Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/terms/diminished-capacity-diminished-responsibility/. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31575.96163

Related terms:

  1. DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY
  2. Diminished Awareness
  3. Self-Control Motivation and Capacity Scale (SCMCS)
  4. Cognitive Capacity Screening Exam (CCSE)
  5. Language-Making Capacity (LMC)
  6. Capacity Building
  7. CAPACITY
  8. CAPACITY MODEL
  9. BRAIN RESERVE CAPACITY
  10. The Alcohol Responsibility Scale