Abstract
Psychopathy is characterized as an emotional disorder tightly woven with persistent antisocial behavior. Prevailing legal doctrine and social norms hold psychopaths responsible for their conduct and punishment legitimately flows to psychopaths who violate the law. Recent scholarship, however, has challenged that view by claiming the emotional and cognitive deficits inherent in psychopathy should preclude culpability for some psychopaths. This view necessarily imposes a substantial modification on how the law conceptualizes culpability that is ultimately unwise. Legal responsibility entails the capacity for rationality and psychopaths comport with the established meanings of rationality as understood by the law and the communal intuitions which guide it. Extant scholarship indicates psychopaths are rational agents and can be fairly subjected to punishment for conduct which violates the law. The law should reject efforts to include psychopaths within its excuse jurisprudence.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-17 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Psychology, Public Policy, and Law |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 1 2012 |
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Keywords
- Antisocial behavior
- Criminal law
- Insanity
- Legal responsibility
- Psychopathy
- Punishment
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science
- Law
Cite this
Predators and punishment. / Erickson, Steven K.; Vitacco, Michael J.
In: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol. 18, No. 1, 01.02.2012, p. 1-17.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Predators and punishment
AU - Erickson, Steven K.
AU - Vitacco, Michael J
PY - 2012/2/1
Y1 - 2012/2/1
N2 - Psychopathy is characterized as an emotional disorder tightly woven with persistent antisocial behavior. Prevailing legal doctrine and social norms hold psychopaths responsible for their conduct and punishment legitimately flows to psychopaths who violate the law. Recent scholarship, however, has challenged that view by claiming the emotional and cognitive deficits inherent in psychopathy should preclude culpability for some psychopaths. This view necessarily imposes a substantial modification on how the law conceptualizes culpability that is ultimately unwise. Legal responsibility entails the capacity for rationality and psychopaths comport with the established meanings of rationality as understood by the law and the communal intuitions which guide it. Extant scholarship indicates psychopaths are rational agents and can be fairly subjected to punishment for conduct which violates the law. The law should reject efforts to include psychopaths within its excuse jurisprudence.
AB - Psychopathy is characterized as an emotional disorder tightly woven with persistent antisocial behavior. Prevailing legal doctrine and social norms hold psychopaths responsible for their conduct and punishment legitimately flows to psychopaths who violate the law. Recent scholarship, however, has challenged that view by claiming the emotional and cognitive deficits inherent in psychopathy should preclude culpability for some psychopaths. This view necessarily imposes a substantial modification on how the law conceptualizes culpability that is ultimately unwise. Legal responsibility entails the capacity for rationality and psychopaths comport with the established meanings of rationality as understood by the law and the communal intuitions which guide it. Extant scholarship indicates psychopaths are rational agents and can be fairly subjected to punishment for conduct which violates the law. The law should reject efforts to include psychopaths within its excuse jurisprudence.
KW - Antisocial behavior
KW - Criminal law
KW - Insanity
KW - Legal responsibility
KW - Psychopathy
KW - Punishment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84874577128&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84874577128&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/a0024607
DO - 10.1037/a0024607
M3 - Article
VL - 18
SP - 1
EP - 17
JO - Psychology, Public Policy, and Law
JF - Psychology, Public Policy, and Law
SN - 1076-8971
IS - 1
ER -