The Tsiaras principles concerning serious psychiatric illness apply to sentencing regardless of the specific diagnostic classification of the offender's condition; the relevant inquiry is whether and to what extent the condition affected the offender's mental capacity at the time of the offence and/or at the time of sentence. A psychotic state, whether drug-induced or a manifestation of schizophrenia, constitutes serious psychiatric illness for these purposes. Where an offender in a self-induced psychotic state made genuine efforts to seek help before the offence, moral culpability may be substantially reduced.
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