Responsibility Of Offenders Research Articles

Advancing knowledge about criminal justice and mental health

Advancing knowledge about criminal justice and mental health Researchers with expertise in criminal law, philosophy, psychiatry and psychology are combining their knowledge to explore how mental disorders are approached within criminal law and contribute to better legal and forensic practices. Current criminal justice systems are based on the premise that human beings are responsible agents that can be held accountable for their actions. However, most criminal justice systems have legal doctrines recognising that there are exceptions when an individual should not be considered criminally accountable. A ubiquitous practice is that children under the minimum age of criminal responsibility are not subject to punishment. Similarly, most countries limit criminal responsibility for offenders with mental disorders and disabilities. However, the question of who should be held criminally accountable and who should not is highly controversial, and a subject of debate. The same applies to what role psychological and psychiatric experts should have in criminal proceedings.

APLICAÇÃO DOS PRINCÍPIOS DO CÓDIGO DE PROCESSO PENAL NA APURAÇÃO DE ATOS INFRACIONAIS: EQUILÍBRIO ENTRE RESPONSABILIZAÇÃO E CARÁTER PEDAGÓGICO

This paper investigates the process of holding adolescents accountable through the application of socio-educational measures. The objective is to analyze how the principles of the CPP influence the implementation of socio-educational measures provided for by the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) and how these practices can harmonize the offender's responsibility with their rehabilitation. The methodology adopted is qualitative, based on the analysis of practical cases and a review of relevant legal literature. The study also reveals that although the CPP provides clear guidelines for holding adolescent offenders accountable, these guidelines are often not sufficiently aligned with practices that emphasize rehabilitation and education. The results indicate that the current application of procedural principles may favor accountability to the detriment of the pedagogical function of the process. The research concludes that it is necessary to improve the application of the CPP principles to better balance the aspects of accountability and education, promoting fairer and more effective justice in the treatment of criminal acts. This improvement aims not only to ensure adequate accountability for adolescents, but also to ensure that the process contributes significantly to their rehabilitation and social reintegration.

Perceived severity of childhood emotional, sexual, and physical abuse: Comparisons across psychologists, students, and the general public.

Childhood emotional abuse has been linked with mental and physical health concerns yet may be perceived as less severe than other forms of childhood abuse. The present study aims to (a) understand perceptions of childhood abuse forms across psychologists, general college-level students, and the general public and (b) investigate whether personal emotional abuse history affects perceptions of emotional abuse. Participants (N = 444) completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form and provided perceived abuse severity and offender responsibility on eight case vignettes of emotional, physical, sexual, and no abuse. Research Question 1 was tested with a two-way (Vignette Type × Participant Type) multivariate analysis of variance performed on perceived severity and offender responsibility scores. Research Question 2 included abuse history as a third factor to examine potential moderation. All three groups perceived scenarios regarding emotional abuse as less severe and the offender less responsible than scenarios regarding sexual or physical abuse. Unexpectedly, psychologists were just as variable in their perceptions of abuse severity across abuse forms, as compared to the general public and college students. However, psychologists with emotional abuse histories provided more severe ratings on emotional abuse items, more in line with general public perceptions. College students' and the general public's relative ratings were roughly equivalent regardless of emotional abuse history. The study calls for more attention to emotional abuse in psychologist training programs. Research and training to increase understanding of emotional abuse and its sequelae could move forward related educational outreach and legal proceedings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

양형상 책임 반영과 예방 고려

This essay aims to review the rationale of sentencing in Korean criminal laws and procedures to understand how to secure rational sentencing with the rationales of sentencing, such as responsibility of offenders and general deterrence or specific deterrence. Shuldprinzip or principle of responsibility is the fundamental basis of criminal punishment, which also acknowledged as constitutional principle for criminal laws. However, Korean Penal Code has no definite provisions on the purpose(s) of punishment or sentencing. Considering such statutory definition of the rationale is necessary for rationalizing sentencing discretion, Article 51 of the Penal Code is the only relevant provision on some ‘general principles’ of sentencing : In determining punishment, the following shall be taken into consideration: 1. The age, character and conduct, intelligence and environment of the offender; 2. Offender's relation to the victim; 3. The motive for the commission of the crime, the means and the result; 4. Circumstances after the commission of the crime. Also, Korean sentencing guideline system under the Court Organization Act has set some principles of setting or changing the sentencing criteria: 1. The nature of crimes, the circumstances of crimes, and the extent of the responsibilities of defendants shall be reflected; 2. The general deterrence, the prevention of defendants from committing crimes again and their return to society shall be taken consideration; 3. As long as there is no difference between the same kind of crimes and the similar kind of crimes in the sentencing elements that have to be taken into account, they shall not be differently handled in the sentencing of them; 4. The sentencing shall not be discriminated against defendants on the grounds of their nationalities, religions, conscience, social statuses, etc. (Article 81-6(2)) Now the sentencing guideline system is taking the role of rationalizing sentencing discretion by both reflecting responsibilities of defendants and considering the general deterrence of crimes or the prevention of defendants from re-offending and their rehabilitation, and further realizing the purposed of just punishment. According to the law, when setting and changing the sentencing guidelines, the guidelines should reflect the degree of responsibility of the defendant, and consider the general prevention of crime and the prevention of recidivism and social rehabilitation of the defendant. So for the rationalization of sentencing, it should be possible to make sentencing-policy judgments on responsibility and prevention considerations through the principles of responsibility and prevention considerations rather than unclear normative adjustments of sentencing guidelines.

Odpowiedzialność karna łowców pedofilów – zarys problematyki

This article mentions crucial aspects of penal responsibility of offenders involved in a process of “catching pedophiles”. Dogmatic analyse leads to conclusions that pedophile hunters are liable for offences against both psychical and physical freedom of potential pedophile and there are no circumstances excluding their responsibility. From the procedural perspective, the hunter is obliged to proof all of mitigating circumstances.

Faut-il retirer la notion de « discernement » de l’article 122-1 du Code pénal ? Une réponse à J.-P. Bouchard (2018)

Can one reasonably defend the suppression of the investigation of discernment in the assessment of the criminal responsibility of offenders? While such a question may at first glance seem purely rhetorical, recent proposals for reform of article 122-1 of the Penal Code suggest that this is not the case. A recommendation, published in the Annales Médico-Psychologiques (Bouchard, 2018), to rewrite this article is in fact explicitly based on an argument insisting on the desirable removal of the concepts – legitimately judged insufficiently precise – of abolition and alteration of discernment, which should be replaced by the idea, supposedly less equivocal, of a causal link (“exclusive” or not) between the presence of a mental disorder and the commission of the offence. In this paper, we propose to demonstrate how such an evacuation of the examination of the quality of discernment – intended to be replaced by a particularly ambitious causal type analysis – is incoherent and moreover produces insurmountable difficulties avoided by the current text.

Identifying factors associated with criminal responsibility by analyzing court trial verdicts

The criminal responsibility of offenders with mental disorders is a key issue in forensic psychiatry. Japan's implementation of the Medical Treatment and Supervision Act and Lay Judge Act in the early 2000s raised public awareness of this issue. To determine how criminal court judges in Japan assess the criminal responsibility of offenders, we examined 453 district court verdicts that mention psychiatric evidence. We extracted elements from each verdict that may be associated with courts' decision-making regarding criminal responsibility and analyzed the relationship between each element and the adjudication of criminal responsibility. We investigated the changes in each element's prevalence over time. A logistic regression analysis revealed that the following were independently associated with the court decisions that offenders' criminal responsibility was intact: understandable motivation for committing the offense, homogeneity of the offense from the defendant's usual behavioral pattern, a coherent process used to commit the offense, alertness while offending, and absence of psychotic symptoms. We observed that recent verdicts are more focused on the offender's perception of illegality and the coherence of the offending process while disregarding the defendant's consciousness and memory while offending. Thus, the courts focus on some specific elements for evaluating the criminal responsibility of each offender.

The Ingredients of Success for Effective Restorative Justice Conferencing in an Environmental Offending Context

Environmental crimes can affect the air we breathe, water we drink, and the land we live on, making it essential to enforce environmental protection laws. Restorative justice conferencing provides a promising way to repair the harm occasioned, offering many benefits over traditional prosecution in court. However, it does have drawbacks and may not be suitable in all cases, raising the question of when it is appropriate to use when dealing with environmental offending. This article sheds light on the benefits and shortfalls of restorative justice in dealing with such offences, as well as proffering indicia that should be considered when assessing offender suitability to engage in conferencing – namely, offender responsibility, as evidenced through contrition and remorse. Such indicia can provide much-needed guidance to the courts, environmental agencies, and lawyers, which will be beneficial for the community and environment as a whole.

The Ingredients of Success for Effective Restorative Justice Conferencing in an Environmental Offending Context

Environmental crimes can affect the air we breathe, water we drink, and the land we live on, making it essential to enforce environmental protection laws. Restorative justice conferencing provides a promising way to repair the harm occasioned, offering many benefits over traditional prosecution in court. However, it does have drawbacks and may not be suitable in all cases, raising the question of when it is appropriate to use when dealing with environmental offending. This article sheds light on the benefits and shortfalls of restorative justice in dealing with such offences, as well as proffering indicia that should be considered when assessing offender suitability to engage in conferencing – namely, offender responsibility, as evidenced through contrition and remorse. Such indicia can provide much-needed guidance to the courts, environmental agencies, and lawyers, which will be beneficial for the community and environment as a whole.

Attribution of responsibility for sexual crimes beyond individual actors – construction of responsibility of offenders, victims and society in laypersons’ explanations

This study analyses laypersons’ explanations for sexual violence. It focusses on how the responsibility for sexual crimes is constructed and attributed, and moreover, what kind of effect this has on the attribution of blame. The research data consist of 105 opinion pieces published in the leading Finnish newspaper since the beginning of the 21st century. The theory-driven qualitative analysis utilises attribution theory and focusses on laypersons’ interpretations and explanations for unusual acts and events deviating from social norms. Attribution theory is commonly utilised in relation to micro-level actors, the offender and the victim, whereas in this article, it is broadened to include also society as a macro-level actor. The analysis reveals that the construction of responsibility derives from (I) the chronological presentation and explanation of sexual crimes; especially (II) the causality attached to chronological phases, which emphasises the victim’s actions prior to the crime; and (III) the construction of active female agency against male passivity or absence of the perpetrator. Moreover, blame is based on a combination of active agency, produced in the analysed explanations, and stereotypical features connected to female gender (e.g. rape myths).

Gotowość do zmiany przestępczych kobiet i mężczyzn

Gotowość przestępców do resocjalizacji jest w naszym kraju nową kategorią. Tymczasem badania prowadzone w wielu krajach wskazują na jej przydatność w diagnozie i selekcji uczestników programów resocjalizacyjnych. Wiąże się to z większą efektywnością oddziaływań wobec skazanych i większą odpowiedzialnością skazanych za własny proces resocjalizacji.Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu prezentację głównych założeń i modeli gotowości do zmiany i ich przydatności w praktyce resocjalizacyjnej oraz ukazanie pilotażowych badań gotowości do zmiany wśród przestępczych kobiet i mężczyzn w Krakowie. Zastosowanie polskiej adaptacji kwestionariusza CVTRQ pozwoliło określić poziom gotowości skazanych, uwzględniając deficyty w poszczególnych skalach kwestionariusza i zmienne różnicujące grupę gotowych od niegotowych. Na koniec zaprezentowane zostaną wskazówki do dalszych badań.

Neoliberal Penality and State Legitimacy: Politics of Amnesty in Turkey during the AKP Period

General amnesty is an extraordinary policy mostly used in the aftermath of civil wars or regime transition to maintain political stability. In Turkey, however, amnesties have historically been used to resolve the chronic problems of the criminal justice system. This radically changed after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, which has taken a sharp anti-amnesty position. This shift should be understood as part of AKP's neoliberal orientation in criminal justice policies that has increased the dose of punitiveness, emphasized individual responsibility of offenders, and enhanced the organizational efficiency of institutions. Central to this neoliberal penal orientation is the party's neopopulist ideology constructed on an image of a strong state that (i) is capable of dealing with structural problems without having to recourse to extraordinary measures, (ii) no longer sees criminals as “victims of fate”, (iii) prioritizes victims’ rights. Our analysis contributes to the mounting literature on neoliberal penalty in two ways: first is by bringing the question of why states forgive at center stage when most work focuses exclusively on how and why states punish; second is by paying closer attention to how developing country governments with limited financial, logistical, and administrative resources manage the tensions and contradictions that neoliberal penal policies bring forth. Our arguments are based on official reports; in-depth interviews with legal professionals; and descriptive statistics on the criminal justice system.

A Study on the Current Theories of the Philosophy and Principles of Self-Defense

The self-defense entity is a legal phenomenon which is included in most countries' constitution in order to protect the people right when exposed to a current or potential danger or offense. The philosophy of acceptance of the self-defense is based on the theories of natural rights, social contract, the two-right conflict, and spiritual obligation. The self-defense has been justified based on several principles such as less harmful results, the possibility of blaming the offender, offending and attacking the defender's right to live, the offender's responsibility, the defender's right for removal and denial of threat. The legal systems each complying with the social and cultural conditions and status, beliefs, the traditions, and etc. try to develop the conditions of realization of self-defense in their constitution, however there are common areas and differences between the legal systems and determination of them plays an important role in justifying this entity. This criminal entity is among the justifiable factors of crime that in case of inclusion of its conditions, the defender will bear no criminal and civil responsibility.

Punishment and Welfare: Defending Offender’s Inclusion as Subjects of State Care

ABSTRACTMany criminal offenders come from disadvantaged backgrounds, which punishment entrenches. Criminal culpability explains some disadvantageous treatment in state-offender interactions; yet offenders remain people, and ‘some mother’s child’, in Eva Kittay’s terms. Offending behaviour neither erases needs, nor fully excuses our responsibility for offenders’ needs. Caring is demanded in principle, recognising the offender’s personhood. Supporting offenders may amplify welfare resources: equipping offenders to provide self-care; to meet caring responsibilities; and enabling offenders’ contribution to shared social life, by providing support and furthering the choices of others seeking to engage with them. The desistance paradigm (viewing desistance from offending as a process, following from an offender’s active choice in the context of stabilising social structures and personal circumstances), implies that a supportive environment may facilitate reduced recidivism. While decisions about criminal culpability need justice, we may use state resources most effectively by also including care ethics in our thinking about punishment.

Criminal offense of endangering personal security and constituent elements (Article 138. of the Criminal Code)

This paper considers the constituent elements of the criminal offense of endangering personal security under Article 138. of the Criminal Code. Although, this criminal case has existed for many years in our criminal legislation, certain dilemmas when it comes to its elements are still present, both in theory and jurisprudence. Therefore, special attention is dedicated to the subject of execution and the consequence of this criminal offense, as well as its subjective element. The author's views on these listed important elements of the criminal offense of endangering personal security are presented by pointing out current dilemmas that appear in their use, therefore a few typical court decisions are chosen and analyzed, mainly those that vary from the accepted practice, after which appropriate conclusions and suggestions de lege ferenda are given. The author's attitude towards qualified forms (difficult one and the most severe form) of this criminal offense, whereby the accent is put on the criteria for demarcation of legal circumstances and the issue of feasibility of providing enhanced criminal protection to persons who administer political and judicial duty, and businesses in the field of public information. Finally, when it comes to the relationship between criminal offense of endangering personal security and its related criminal offenses, the focus of the author's interest are complex issues of distinction between the ideal and real concurrence, as well as broader question of criminal political justification of establishing offender's responsibility for multiple offenses if they emerge from the same life event.

Criminal Responsibility of Offenders with Personality Disorders with an Emphasis on Crime Psychological Factors

A variety of psychiatric disorders but dementia are among the issues discussed in criminology and can have a significant influence on the criminal responsibility of the perpetrators and the patients with such disorders and consequently on their criminal law. Mental disorders which encompass a wide range of mild, moderate, and severe neuropsychiatric illnesses are usually resulting from biological-psychological-social factors which make up a person's personal and social environment. Susceptibility to these disorders can be studied from different perspectives, including the law and criminal law perspective. Legislator with the knowledge and understanding of this issue has always made an attempt to lay down rules which fir this unfortunate phenomenon and has also taken measures in this regard. However, the achievements of medical sciences, especially psychology and psychiatry, suggest that some mental disorders, due to the expropriation of belonging, understanding, and determination, nullify the criminal responsibility and a number of disorders, due to having influence and pressure on reasoning, understanding, and decision-making, reduce the criminal liability. Due to lack of having influence on individuals' reasoning, understanding, and decision-making, some others do not have effect on criminal responsibility; however, they put mental health at risk.

‘I know how they must feel’: Empathy and judging defendants

The current study investigated the effects of state and trait empathy in legal judgments and tested the relationship between trait and state emotion in one hundred and fifty eight students aged 18–59. Assessments were taken of participants’ trait empathy and then state empathy was induced in half the sample. Following this all participants read a trial transcript and made judgments regarding: the verdict decision; the defendant's responsibility for the offense; what would be an appropriate punishment; the likelihood that the offender would offend in the future; and whether the defendant felt remorse for committing the offense. Findings showed that both trait and state empathy predicted attributions of offender remorse. State empathy also predicted judgments of offender responsibility and agreement with verdict decisions in a lenient direction. Findings also showed that state and trait empathy did not interact. The results indicate that trait and state empathy work independently to influence legal judgments and that inducing empathy in decision-makers can impact on trial outcomes above and beyond the facts of the case.

The meaning of impunity: what do victims, offenders and society think of restorative encounters in the context of ETA terrorism in Spain?

ABSTRACTThe object of this article is to work with the concept of injustice, rather than impunity, following Reyes Mate's theory (2011), from the standpoint of restorative justice. The concept of delicate and real injustice, as developed by this Spanish philosopher, obliges us to take certain significant nuances into account. It is not a de-contextualised concept. On the contrary, it is a concept that underlines aspects of justice that are linked to more inherently local and community dimensions. The experiences of victims of terrorism are assessed from the standpoint of individual victimisation and acknowledgement in terms of the active responsibility of offenders as well as with a broad range of complementary responses to the social and political harm done. This work refers mainly to the terrorist group ETA, based on considerations drawn from the results of previous research. In the first part of the paper, the state of play with regard to restorative encounters within the domain of terrorist victimisat...

Employing mixed methods to explore motivational patterns of repeat sex offenders

PurposeUnderstanding the motivation of sex offenders plays a key role in societal perception of victim culpability and offender responsibility. This study identified patterns of offender motivation, assessed motivation stability across offenses, and estimated the influence of offense/victim specific factors on motivation in comparison to offender factors. MethodsEmploying mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design, the study utilized confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to identify motivational factors underlying 346 crime events. Second, motivation stability was assessed across offenses committed by 69 offenders. Finally, interview data were reviewed to assess whether offender types emerged corresponding to CFA results. ResultsA motivational typology was identified comprised of five offender groupings built upon two underlying constructs, one driven by sexual gratification and the other linked to anger/aggression. Minimal change in motivation was observed across offenses committed by the same offender against different victims. Offense/victim specific influence (22-23%) and offender related influence (77-78%) were similarly distributed with both sexual and anger-driven motivation. ConclusionsMotivation plays a key role in offending. Offense/victim specific factors have similar proportional influence on crime motivation in comparison to offender factors irrespective of the type of motivation. Contrary to popular public perception, victim blame is not warranted regardless of what motivates offenders.

Influencing expert judgment: Attributions of crime causality

Purpose. The present research aimed to investigate the effects of attribution on expert clinical judgment in comparison to semi‐experts and laypeople. Two research questions were addressed. First, would experts be less subject to attributional manipulations, in terms of their perceived ratings of dangerousness, than would semi‐experts or laypeople? Second, would experts be less subject to attributional manipulations, in terms of their assessments of offender responsibility, than would semi‐experts or laypeople? Method. A 3×3×2 mixed groups design was implemented. Participants read nine crime scenarios that had been internally or externally manipulated. For each scenario, participants were asked to rate offender dangerousness, offender responsibility, and the seriousness of the crime and to suggest a suitable sentence length. Targeted recruitment was employed, yielding 12 experts, 21 semi‐experts, and 22 laypeople. Results. Offenders were considered to be more responsible for their actions and more dangerous to others in the internal manipulations than in the external ones across all crime types and by all levels of expertise. Findings indicate that semi‐experts are less subject to the influence of attributional manipulations than both experts and laypeople. Marked similarities in the pattern of expert and lay person judgments can be observed from the present analyses. Conclusions. The current findings lend support to previous research in the area in that similarities between expert and lay person judgment were observed. However, through expanding and clarifying the levels of expertise investigated, the current findings highlight the need for greater research into the distinct ‘semi‐expert’ group.