Law Commons^™

The Confusion Of Causes And Reasons In Forensic Psychology: Deconstructing Mens Rea And Other Mental Events, Joel R. Cornwell

University of Richmond Law Review

The public perception that criminal conduct is increasingly excused on psychological grounds, notwithstanding a markedly small statistical success rate of diminished capacity defenses, evinces misplaced frustration over a broader cultural reluctance or inability to assign moral blame. Psychology is seen as feeding a kind of determinism that rationalizes evil behavior and precludes retributive punishment as a matter of scientific principle. This perception is accurate to the degree that it reveals our legal system's fundamental confusion of purposes in judging and explaining criminal behavior. This confusion is engendered by the indeterminacy of language, which entangles the verificationist mode and purpose of …