The notion of excusability in homicide

Abstract

In all advanced legal systems, the degree of' criminal liability and hence the amount of punishment awarded for serious crimes is made dependent not only on the offender having done those outward acts which the law forbids, but on his having done them in a certain frame of' mind or with a certain will. Responsibility means the capacity, so far as this is a matter of a man's mind or will, which normal people have to control their actions and conform to law. In this sense of responsibility, a man's responsibility can be said to be "impaired". Hence the principles of Fairness and Justice require that those who have special difficulties to face in keeping the law which they have broken should be punished less. This gives rise for the need of mitigating circumstances which must be considered when assessing the awarding of punishments. Therefore the special features of Mitigation demand that a less severe punishment is meted out if the situation or mental state of the convicted criminal is such that he was exposed to an unusual or specially great temptation, or his ability to control his actions is thought to have been impaired or weakened otherwise than In all advanced legal systems, the degree of' criminal liability and hence the amount of punishment awarded for serious crimes is made dependent not only on the offender having done those outward acts which the law forbids, but on his having done them in a certain frame of' mind or with a certain will. Responsibility means the capacity, so far as this is a matter of a man's mind or will, which normal people have to control their actions and conform to law. In this sense of responsibility, a man r s responsibility can be said' to be "impaired". Hence the principles of Fairness and Justice require that those who have special difficulties to face in keeping the law which they have broken should be punished less. This gives rise for the need of mitigating circumstances which must be considered when assessing the awarding of punishments. Therefore the special features of Mitigation demand that a less severe punishment is meted out if the situation or mental state of the convicted criminal is such that he was exposed to an unusual or specially great temptation, or his ability to control his actions is thought to have been impaired or weakened otherwise than by his own action, so that conformity to the law which he has broken was a matter of special difficulty for him as compared with normal persons, normally placed. In cases of homicide, where the killing is excused, what the agent has done is something which has been deplored, but the psychological state of the agent when he did it, exemplified one or more of a variety of conditions which are held to lessen the public condemnation and mitigate the punishment of such an individual.