Dr Joseph Sakdalan1, Ms Maya Bennett2
1Forensicare, Clifton Hill, Australia, 2Cairnmillar Institute, Hawthorn East, Australia
Biography:
Maya Bennett is an Honours student in psychology at the Cairnmillar Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Her academic background spans criminology and mental health, and her research interests lie at the intersection of personality disorders, forensic assessment, and legal decision-making. Her Honours project examines the clinical and evidentiary predictors of Verdins application in Victorian personality disorder sentencing decisions post-Brown (2020), with a particular focus on the role of Bugmy, mental illness comorbidity, and the sentencing of Indigenous defendants.
Abstract:
Personality disorders are substantially overrepresented in forensic populations, yet until recently, their relevance to sentencing mitigation in Victoria was legally contested. The landmark decision in Brown v The Queen [2020] VSCA 212 resolved this, confirming that personality disorders engage the Verdins principles on the same basis as any other impairment of mental functioning. What remained unknown was how courts have applied Verdins in practice following Brown, and whether sentencing outcomes are meaningfully shaped by the clinical, evidentiary, and social factors that characterise these cases.
This paper presents findings from a quantitative archival study examining Victorian sentencing decisions post-Brown in which personality disorder was raised under the Verdins framework. The study examines whether the strength of the expert-described causal link between personality disorder and offending predicts Verdins application, and whether sentencing outcomes vary when mental illness comorbidity is present. The role of Bugmy and its particular relevance to personality-disordered offenders will also be considered.
Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for forensic practitioners preparing expert evidence in personality disorder cases involving Indigenous clients — particularly the formulation of developmental histories, causal links between disadvantage and offending, and the integration of cultural context into clinical opinion — and what gaps remain in how Victorian courts are applying the combined Bugmy-Verdins framework.