WDW101Y1 : WDW365 Reading Summaries.docx
19 Apr 2012
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Habits by inner workings of the mind, run by subconscious mechanisms. Cannot blame reason for action, so not responsible. Reading 1: construction of responsibility in the criminal law. Both perspectives can plausibly explain alcoholic or addictive behaviour. A key element in the construction of individual responsibility and a key feature of excuse theory generally, is the criminal law"s stylized treatment of the human capacity for practical reasoning. The process of practical reasoning through which decision is reached is fully determined by factors beyond the autonomous control of the actor. Conduct in this respect can be simultaneously described as determined and free. If the actor can be said to have engaged in a process of practical reasoning, responsibility ordinarily will be assigned. If the actor was unable in a meaningful fashion to engage in decision making and reasoning, it is likely that responsibility will not be assigned.
