ADMJ 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Moral Agency, Prison Escape
22 Dec 2020
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Causation theory a person should not be blamed for her conduct if it was caused by factors outside her control. However, it is not evident that the causation principle conforms with our moral intuitions. Acceptance of this principle of excuses could threaten to lead society down the cul-de-sac of determinism in which nobody could be blamed or punished for wrongful conduct. Character theory punishment should be proportional to a wrongdoer"s moral desert, and that desert should be measured by the actor"s character. Normally we infer bad character from an actor"s wrongful conduct, so excuses should be recognized in circumstances where bad character can"t be inferred from the wrongful conduct. However, if excuse law were really based on character, a court would need to look at the person"s whole life, not just the immediate circumstances. Also, this theory doesn"t explain why we do punish people of good character who commit out-of-character offenses.
