Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” (2011), Forensic Psychiatry and the Law

Alcohol Use and Risk Factors

In the lyrics, the song’s protagonist attempts to recall the preceding night’s events. Underlining the adverse effects of substance use (“we took too many shots”), we learn of alcohol-induced headaches (“There’s a pounding in my head”), memory disturbances (“Think we kissed but I forgot”), and episodes of anterograde amnesia (“It’s a blacked out blur”).² The phrase “blacked out blur” is noteworthy given studies that show individuals develop their own terminology for such events.⁴ As a result of intoxication, the protagonist engaged in antisocial and potentially aggressive behavior (“we went streaking in the park” and “[we] got kicked out the bar”), which gradually developed into criminal and civil offenses (e.g., “Think the city towed my car” and “I think we broke the law”), necessitating law enforcement’s involvement (“Warrant’s out for my arrest”).²

Albeit euphemistically framed (“I’m pretty sure it ruled”),² “Last Friday Night” demonstrates how alcohol and psychotropic substance use are prevalent risk factors for disinhibition and reduced impulse control, which can result in a higher probability of violent and nonviolent offending.⁵ The World Health Organization deems alcohol-related crime a major social problem⁶ and psychotropic substances can cause significant physical, social, and psychological harms.⁷ Accordingly, Perry’s work continues a long tradition of popular music referencing psychiatric and medical themes for mainstream, nonspecialist audiences.⁸

Jurisprudence and Culpability

For the authors, the lyrics evoke questions of applicable law and forensic assessments of culpability related to intoxication. Although one can assume that the events occurred in the United States, the geographic setting is never explicitly mentioned nor are the exact circumstances of the lawbreaking. This is significant as the characteristics of the justice system and the nature of the offense would determine possible defenses based on intoxication and mental capacity. Consequently, like other songs, “Last Friday Night” could be used as a universally pertinent teaching heuristic, conveying complex and diverse jurisprudential concepts.⁹

In common law systems, voluntary intoxication can be adopted as a diminished capacity defense for certain offenses.¹⁰ For example, in the United Kingdom, a differentiation is made between crimes of basic intent, where “voluntary intoxication is never a defense,” and specific intent, where it is permissible if the defendant was voluntarily “intoxicated to the extent that he is incapable of forming the mental element of the offense.”¹¹ Similarly, in various American states, alcohol use can be a mens rea defense, negating intent in “specific” offenses and potentially leading to the prosecution of a lesser-included crime.¹² If we assume that “Last Friday Night” is based within a common law jurisdiction, the offending behavior (i.e., a “specific” or “basic” crime) dictates whether intoxication constitutes a mitigating factor; were they considered to be “specific” offenses, this may require the involvement of a forensic mental health specialist, particularly if there is an underlying psychiatric disorder.⁵ Accordingly, recommendations have been developed that can help guide forensic-psychiatric opinion formulation for intoxication.¹³

What if the night out took place in another territory, that is, one governed by civil law? Civil law justice systems foreground freewill as a major component in crime and punishment; the short-term effects of alcohol use can reduce criminal responsibility.¹⁴ In practice, the temporary impairment of judgment, as may be occasioned by intoxication, often leads to a reduction in sentencing.¹⁵ For instance, this is delineated in Swiss Law: “If the person concerned was only partially able at the time of the act to appreciate that his act was wrong or to act in accordance with this appreciation of the act [because he is intoxicated], the court shall reduce the sentence” (Ref. 16, p 357). So Perry’s protagonist might theoretically expect to receive a lesser sentence in Bern, Switzerland for a basic offense compared with Los Angeles, CA. We acknowledge, however, that this may yet depend on individual circumstances.

Nonetheless, civil law systems often contain the device, actio libera in causa. This broadens the context in which “a criminal act and the offenders’ responsibility are examined”; although mens rea may not be present, through voluntary alcohol use an offender exhibits “intent and consciousness of bringing him/herself into the state of intoxication within which the disputed act would result” (Ref. 13, p 96). In the song, the remorseless protagonist indicates a willingness to continue with deleterious patterns of alcohol use, regardless of any subsequent consequences (“Yeah, I think we broke the law/Always say we're gonna stop, whoa/This Friday night, do it all again”).² Within the framework of actio libera in causa, this may impute intentionality and agency to future offenses, thus undermining a viable defense and affecting sentencing. Here, again, Perry’s song helps distinguish between the implications of substance use for culpability in civil and common law.