NCJ Number
104486
Journal
Boston College Third World Law Journal Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1986) Pages: 161-184
Date Published
1986
Length
24 pages
Annotation
In cases where a defendant comes from an alien culture and is, as yet, unfamiliar with the norms of the society by which behavior is judged, the issue of moral culpability requisite to criminal guilt becomes problematic.
Abstract
This note discusses the role that knowledge of wrongdoing has traditionally played in the determination of guilt. Focus is on the manner in which the subjective inquiry into the defendant's moral state of mind has been merged with the objective need to discourage certain types of activities that threaten the fabric of the community. Next, tensions resulting from the creation of strict liability regulatory crimes, which are directed at conduct involving no moral turpitude, are considered as they relate to the requirement that moral culpability serve as an indicia of criminal guilt. It is suggested that recent trends show some erosion in the moral culpability standard, but this standard still remains basic to Anglo-American criminal justice. Finally, a review is presented of the ways in which colonial and postcolonial legislatures and courts have handled cases (particularly homicide) involving defendants whose actions were acceptable by their own community standards and who were ignorant of the expectations of the dominant legal culture. Guidelines are offered for determining moral culpability in such cases. 169 footnotes.