The purpose of amendment 24 is to ensure that all those with a mental disorder that is diagnosed by a psychiatrist and defined by law and who commit an offence have access to the statutory special defence where appropriate and necessary, even when the individual knows that what they are doing is wrong but they have nonetheless committed the act because their illness compels them to do so.I remind the committee of the recommendation in our stage 1 report, in which we concluded:“However, we are not yet confident that the proposed special defence of mental disorder has been appropriately defined, given the concerns raised in evidence and the differences of interpretation between ... witnesses about whether the special defence would be available to people who know their conduct is wrong, but are driven by their mental illness to do it anyway.”The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland raised concerns on the definition, saying that“a mental disorder may not just impair an individual’s ability ‘to appreciate the nature or wrongfulness of the conduct’, but may also impair their ability to control their behaviour even though they may appreciate that their actions are wrong.”Similar concerns were raised by the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Association for Mental Health.The Law Society of Scotland said that the mental disorder defence might not be available to someone who commits an offence while “suffering from a depressive illness”, for example, or who is compelled to act because of command...